The NeuroPhilosophy of Physics: A Grand Unification of How Brain and Mind Shape Our Perception of the Universe

Introduction

The Enlightenment period led to the rise of modern science with the Newtonian understanding of physics, which viewed the universe as a structure consisting of regular and repeating patterns driven by natural forces, understandable by the rational human mind. Similarly, John Locke determined that the human mind understands reality through empirical observations. This view is known as British empiricism. This reductionist and materialist perspective made individual freedom and rights the foundation of society. This ultra-reductionist paradigm in science began with Newtonian mechanics. This rational mindset led to the rise of modern science, the capitalist system, and the industrial revolution. Studies in neuroendocrinology suggest that these sociocultural tendencies were fueled by increases in sex and growth hormones regulated by the hypothalamus due to increased solar activity during the Enlightenment.

However, this current changed direction during the Counter-Enlightenment period, which began in the 1780s with Immanuel Kant's publication of Critique of Pure Reason. This German Idealist philosophy overturned the understanding of rational cognition based on the bottom-up integration of empirical observations by determining that our mind is limited by the innate structure of the brain's top-down perception of reality. This social tendency shaped the evolution of modern science and philosophy. The article argues that examining the forces driving these sociocultural tendencies could provide clues to fundamental questions in neuroscience and physics. According to this idealist view, the observer cannot be separated from the observed object. Mind-body and matter-energy dualism stood against the Newtonian materialist worldview. Energy, just as it drives changes in the physical universe, also drives the rise and fall of human civilizations in the form of solar energy. Energy also shapes our brain's perception of reality.

The Predictive Mind

A new unifying paradigm called "predictive processing" has emerged in computational neuroscience; this paradigm proposes that the brain continuously creates and updates a "mental model" of the environment. In 2006, Karl Friston published the free energy principle, which explains how the brain adjusts its model of reality based on empirical evidence. This scheme is based on empirical Bayesian approaches and hierarchical models of how sensory input is generated. The use of hierarchical models allows the brain to generate prior expectations in a dynamic and context-sensitive manner.

"The system can minimize free energy by changing its configuration to affect how it samples the environment, or by changing the distribution it encodes. These changes correspond to action and perception respectively, and lead to an adaptive exchange with the environment that is characteristic of biological systems."

The Predictive Processing (PP) paradigm has roots in Kant. Kant's themes active in PP include: (1) emphasis on the "top-down" production of perceptions; (2) the role of "hyperpriors"; (3) the general function of "generative models"; (4) the process of "analysis through synthesis" and (5) the critical role of imagination in perception. Kant can be described as the father of modern neuroscience as a philosopher who examined how the brain uses its limited resources to construct reality.

How the Free Energy Principle Shapes Epistemology

High solar activity in the 1950s led to the rise of individualism and Ayn Rand's objectivist philosophy that supported Enlightenment ideals. In his 2012 book The Dim Hypothesis, Leonard Peikoff developed a new theory of epistemology to describe how the mind integrates data. Peikoff describes three methods: Integration (rational), Misintegration (irrational), and Disintegration (nihilism). While high-energy periods bring Integration epistemology, when cognitive energy levels drop, attacks on rationality begin, which can lead to Misintegration. The complete depletion of energy brings the Disintegration stage where reality and logic are rejected.

Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life

The free energy principle in neuroscience is based on entropy theory in physics. Life is defined as a process driven by the energy gradient created by solar energy. Schneider and Sagan's thesis argues that energy flows not only fuel but also organize and determine the trajectory of the evolutionary process. The second law of thermodynamics (entropy law) expresses the tendency of regular "free energy" in nature to dissipate and become unusable. The authors argue that nature "hates" gradients and that life emerged to reduce these gradients.

Energy, Predictive Mind and Modern Physics

The Newtonian view of an orderly universe was replaced by the chaotic flow energy of electromagnetism in the 19th century with the decrease in solar energy. Around 1859, Rudolf Clausius formulated the second law of thermodynamics, stating that order in the universe decreases and entropy increases. That same year, Darwin linked the formation of species to a chaotic evolutionary process through natural selection rather than the Enlightenment's God of Order. In the 20th century, continued decline in solar activity and the Great Depression period brought about the complete collapse of the "orderly universe" paradigm with Einstein's theory of relativity and the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Grand Unified Theory: The NeuroPhilosophy of Physics

Newton's view of an orderly universe was a high-energy perspective, while the entropy theory developed in the 19th century represents a pessimistic degeneration. However, on a larger scale, we know that the gravitational force brings gas clouds together to form new stars; this shows that gravity increases order in the system as the opposite of entropy. Therefore, the universal entropy view may be an invalid and pessimistic view resulting from a depressive social mood caused by the declining solar energy trend.

Mainstream science's failure to unify universal forces stems from Kantian categories that shape how our mind perceives reality. However, in 1973, Menahem Simhony developed a structure modeling space as a lattice of charged particles (epola - electron-positron lattice). This model explains that light is an energy wave passing through this lattice and defines gravity as the resistance to movement within this lattice. This approach explains phenomena like vacuum energy and quantum entanglement through a physical medium rather than "spooky action at a distance".

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have suggested that the free energy principle offers a grand unifying paradigm for how our mind perceives reality and provides a potential solution to the mind-body dualism problem. Understanding complex systems, synchronization, and the holistic-reductionist opposite properties of human cognition will provide a better framework for the natural forces that will shape future science and philosophy.