ohnjoe McFadden is Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Surrey, and has published more than 100 articles in scientific journals on subjects as wide-ranging as bacterial genetics, tuberculosis, idiopathic diseases and computer modelling of evolution. He lectured extensively in the UK, Europe, the USA and Japan and his work has been featured in radio, television and national newspaper articles. He wrote the popular science book, Quantum Evolution, which examines the role of quantum mechanics in life, evolution and consciousness. He also writes articles regularly for the Guardian newspaper in the UK on topics as varied as quantum mechanics, evolution and genetically modified crops. Most controversial were two papers published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies, in which McFadden proposed that the brain's em information field is the physical substrate of conscious awareness: Synchronous Firing and Its Influence on the Brain's Electromagnetic Field: Evidence for an Electromagnetic Field Theory of Consciousness, and The Conscious Electromagnetic Information (Cemi) Field Theory: The Hard Problem Made Easy? This theory was developed independently but concurrent with Susan Pockett's field theory of consciousness.
Related Links
- Johnjoe McFadden's Machines Like Us interview
- Johnjoe McFadden's home page
- Johnjoe McFadden's Wikipedia page
- Johnjoe McFadden's University of Surrey page
- Excerpts from McFadden's book, Quantum Evolution
Johnjoe McFadden Quotes
Instead of the venerable sage, we should instead imagine a younger Aristotle diving into the clear waters of the Aegean to retrieve starfish, crabs and anemones, to study their form or observe their behaviour.
We cannot account for life with classical science alone. In particular, we cannot account for how living creatures are able to direct their actions according to their own internal agenda. For higher animals, including ourselves, we call this ability, our will. The ability to will actions is a profoundly puzzling aspect of living organisms that appears to contradict scientific determinism. There is no role for will in determinism; we do not have choices. Every action that we perform should be determined, not by any decision we make, but by the precise molecular configuration of our bodies at the time preceding our action.
