Shufflebrain: The Quest For The Hologramic Mind

282 Pages·1981·18.668 MB·English

by  Paul Pietsch

PAUL PIETSCH
SHURREE

A

THE QUEST FOR THE HOLOGRAMIC MIND

To Mothermouse and her brood

Copyright © 1981 by Paul Pietsch
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Pietsch, Paul, date
Shufflebrain.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Memory. 2. Brain — Localization of functions.
3. Memory — Philosophy. 4. Holography in medicine.
I. Title.
QP406. P53 153.1 80-21726
ISBN 0-395-29480-0
Printed in the United States of America
V10987654321
Line drawings by Diane Jung.
Acknowledgments

] wisuH to thank Linda Keenan and Shari Lentz for typing the
manuscript, Carolyn Balog for proofreading, and Jacque Kubley
for photography. Diane Jung drew the figures.
I also pay tribute to Harper’s for having the courage to
publish parts of this story, and thank particularly Nelson W.
Aldrich, Jr., formerly of that magazine, for his superb editing. I
am also indebted to editors Larry Burns and Tony Jones for
their continued interest in my work and for the opportunity to
communicate some of my findings. I have been encouraged in
various ways by Bob Cromie of Universal Science News, Dr.
Samuel L. Hart of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dr. Maynard
B. Chenoweth of Midland, Michigan, and Dr. Gordon G.
Heath, presently the dean of the School of Optometry, Indiana
University. I wish to praise the crew of CBS’s “60 Minutes,”
especially the producer, Igor Oganesoff, for an excellent pro-
gram based on the work in my laboratory.
During those perilous last moments when the book was still
somewhere between thesis and antithesis, like an aerialist be-
tween trapezes, and not yet a synthesis, my agent Harriet Was-
serman, with a note here, a mot there, became my angel.
I will always be grateful to Tony Stern, who introduced me
to my editor, Jonathan Galassi. The opportunity to observe Jon’s
rich literary insight at work became a reward unto itself.
v i ACKNOWLE DGMENTS
With some stains I use for nerve fibers, one has the option,
as a final step, to tone the tissues in gold, thereby adding an
extra-sharp quality to the details. If copy editing does a similar
thing to a manuscript, then | would substitute something more
precious than gold to describe Clay Morgan’s contributions to
this book.
Preface

UNTIL RATHER RECENTLY, a natural scientist could offer
the public little more insight into the fundamental principles of
the mind than could an ancient Greek philosopher or a
present-day guru. For there had been a total absence of even
the prospects of a general theory of biological memory. This
situation has changed. For within comparatively recent years
just such a theory has come along. And this theory is the sub-
ject of Shufflebrain.
I did not originate the theory. But I have been investigat-
ing. perfecting, and using it for well into a second decade. The
theory has power. It has range and generality. It is consistent
with every relevant fact I know about memory in living organ-
isms. It relates mind-brain to nonliving systems, and thereby
suggests that the mind is not a supernatural entity but a part of
Nature. The theory reconciles diverse bodies of previously
equivocal evidence. And, without fail, it has predicted the re-
sults of all my experiments, some of which I still find hard to
comprehend.
Yet the theory could be false, in the logician’s sense of the
word. And nowhere will I try to tell the reader that the theory is
true. A scientific theory is a system of thought, a rational expla-
nation of facts or events, and not really an assertion of truth.
Strictly speaking, true scientific theories do not exist. Does a
V ill PREF ACE
given theory work? Is it logical? Does it generate new under-
Standing? Can it allow the human mind to fathom what has
always seemed beyond the depths of reason? Does it allow the
intellect and imagination to place the phrase “what if” at the
front of new and novel questions about Nature? These are the
important questions to ask about any scientific theory. And
when the answers turn out to be yes, the theory’s existence —
its Existenz —rather than its proofs turns out to be what
counts; and the existence of the theory may alter the future
course of thought and change the destiny of civilization. The
subject of this book has very suggestive historical markings. My
hunch — and | carefully label it as hunch — is that the exis-
tence of a general theory of biological memory means that we.
all of us, have entered into the early, uncertain cycles of the age
when science began to penetrate the core of the subjective cos-
mos.
Shufflebrain is not written for a readership of technical spe-
cialists. It is for a general audience, for the cornfield philoso-
phers of the world, the cab driver who packs works of Carl
Sandburg along with the salami sandwich and the banana, the
librarian who arrives extra-early each morning to sample the in-
finity of treasures among the stacks; for the student who studies
because of the hunger to know, and the teacher who teaches for
the same reason; for the journalist whose curiosity becomes
sharpened instead of dulled by the daily brush against new
events and novel ideas; for the life scout who camps on a ridge
overlooking a great meandering river and uses the day’s last
good light for reading; for the lovers of thoug—h tthe true
keepers of civilization — whoever they are.
But in spite of its informal style, this book is not a popular-
ization of a technical topic. It is a definitive statement of the
subject, not a surrogate or a shadowy hint of it. My intent is to
involve the reader intimately in the inner workings of the whole
story. And when I resort to the generic we, I mean the reader
PREFA CE ix
and me, together, not a group of experts in armchairs dispensing
wisdom.
I am not trying to snub or circumvent the scholar by using
the writing style I have chosen. But I could not bring the ele-
ments of the story together in the impersonal, detached lingo of
the bench scientist or formal philosopher. I really did not fully
understand the dynamics of the message until I had finished.
Without my realizing it, much of the actual investigation of the
subject went on as I wrote the book. The subject was too global
for the assumptions of any particular discipline. The story de-
manded a synoptic statement. I found that only by using every-
day language could I faithfully represent the meaning in the
subject. I had to call heavily upon the ideas of science and phi-
losophy, of course. But without general language, given all its
imperfections, Shufflebrain would not exist.
Paul Pietsch
Bloomington, Indiana
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin
Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida
Contents

Preface vii
Quest of Hologramic Memory 1
The Mind-Brain Conundrum 12

Y
N
W Holograms 41]
wN
PB Mimics of Mind 65
Shufflebrain 81
P
N
A The Hologramic Deck 103
D
Waves of Theory 124
O
Ideal Mind 142
The Holological Continuum 162
OS Microminds and Macrominds 19]
d
=. Intelligent Holograms 220
p
N
pmmed Smart Eyes 227
Bibliography 257
Index 265