Review of Chris Nunn (2007) From Neurons to Notions: Brains, Mind and Meaning. Edinburgh: Floris Books, 206p., ISBN 978-086315-617-5.

Author: Alfredo Pereira Jr. – Adjunct Professor – São Paulo State University (UNESP) and Brazilian Research Council (CNPQ) – E-mail: apj@ibb.unesp.br

In spite of the quantity and variety of books about mentality and consciousness published in the last decades, a true interdisciplinary (or transdisciplinary) approach to the subject is hard to find. The problem of finding a place for Mind in Nature involves complex issues in Physics, Biological Sciences, Computation, Linguistics, Psychology, Anthropology and Sociology. In most cases an author tries to attend to the Publisher’s recommendations of reaching a wide audience, but is betrayed by her academic specialization and focus of interest.

Chris Nunn’s new book can possibly be considered the first successful attempt of providing one broad interdisciplinary framework for the study of mind and consciousness. His approach is based on Dynamical Systems Theory and State Space representation, two powerful tools that can encompass description and explanation of phenomena from brain function measured by EEG to social phenomena as epidemic ideologies (also called “memes”, a term proposed by Richard Dawkins).

Nunn’s talent for brilliant discussion of interdisciplinary issues probably comes from his experience in psychiatric practice, an area where physical, biological, psychological and social phenomena are densely mixed. After retiring, he has worked as one of the Editors of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, a leading publication in the area, also a good position to afford a panoramic view of the field.

The conceptual framework of the book is based on the idea of a hierarchy of attractors, ranging (in a biological system) from genetic landscapes to brain function, and then to individual and social cognitive processes. In this framework, philosophical and psychological concepts as Beauty, Truth and Love can be related to the self-organizing dynamics of complex systems without the common reductionistic bias.

In the beginning of the book, Nunn shows the possible connection of Carl Jung’s concept of Archetypes with the contemporary concept of Attractors. His second move is towards approaching both concepts to brain dynamics. At this stage, the approach is based on the work of eminent neuroscientist Walter Freeman. After demonstrating how this framework can account for brain function and the emergence of (conscious) meaning, Nunn conducts his own spectacle, showing how his method can throw new lights on a dozen of extremely interesting issues, such as near-death, out-of-body, ayahuasca and alien abduction experiences, Mesmerism, Tarantism, neurasthenia, advertising, creativity, mysticism and the necessity of sleeping.

One of the philosophical problems that his approach has to solve is how mental processes could transcend the boundaries of individual living systems. This problem is raised in the ‘Addendum’ at the end of the book, where Nunn reveals an affinity with the philosophical perspective of Reflexive Monism, proposed by psychologist Max Velmans. The core idea is that, in conscious perception, when influences of environment on brain exceeds a threshold, brain states and aspects of the environment “must be regarded as occupying the same state space” (p. 190). This position can surely trigger a healthy polemic among philosophers and cognitive scientists.

In my reading of the book, agreeing or not, I was always pleased in all chapters by the richness of information and captivating ideas. The only part that annoyed me is the assumption that quantum entanglement would play a role for consciousness at the highest level of attraction.
Nunn summarizes his hierarchy of attractors in a table (p. 163):
a) (at the bottom) Genetic influences on brain function;
b) Level 1 dynamics (unconscious interactions between neurons);
c) Level 2 dynamics (mostly conscious attractors, based on Level 1);
d) Social dynamics and
e) The atemporal entanglement landscape.

In the usual picture of Physics, quantum entanglement occurs at the microscopic level, which is below the dynamics of macromolecules (including genes). For a reason that is unknown to me, not only Nunn but many “Quantum Mind” theorists (as Dean Radin, largely quoted in the last chapter of the book) consider quantum entanglement as being up and above the biological workings of the brain and living body, putatively supporting paranormal phenomena. Progress in the area of Quantum Biology may induce a change in Nunn’s hierarchy, moving quantum entanglement from the top to the bottom.

In conclusion, I recommend the book as obligatory reading both for those who look for a good introduction to the field of consciousness studies, and those who investigate interdisciplinary pathways by which consciousness studies could achieve the status of a scientific field.