The following paper discusses from the point of view of the translator the obstacles, both institutional and linguistic, encountered during the introduction of Heidegger’s book Being and Time in the Bulgarian socio-cultural context. In particular some basic terms, which compose the core of Heidegger’s book, have been thoroughly analyzed. These include terms and categories such as: Dasein, Geschichte / Historie, Zeitigkeit / Zeitlichkeit, Gegenwart / Gegen-wart, Zukunft / Zukommen, Gewärtigen, Vergangenheit, Man / Manselbst, Bewandtnis and others. Concrete arguments have been (...) given in order to prove that direct borrowing of some of those terms, existing in translations from Russian and other languages, is not feasible. (shrink)

In this paper I try to underline both the positive and negative circumstances in which I began translating Heidegger's "Sein und Zeit" in Greek. In 1971 I started, as a young student of philosophy, to study and translate this book, although I misunderstood it and considered it as a paradigm of "existentiell", not existential philosophy. I benefited essentially from both the English and the French translations and I've also received great help from my Greek mentor, E. N. Platis. I published (...) my translation in two volumes, one in 1978 and the other in 1985 and the critics have been very positive. At the beginning, I gave extended explanations about the translation problems and my solutions in a paper published in 1974. In the following years, I wrote articles about the Heideggerian concepts, in order to facilitate a better understanding of his philosophy.. (shrink)

For any class of operators which transform unary total functions in the set of natural numbers into functions of the same kind, we define what it means for a real function to be uniformly computable or conditionally computable with respect to this class. These two computability notions are natural generalizations of certain notions introduced in a previous paper co-authored by Andreas Weiermann and in another previous paper by the same authors, respectively. Under certain weak assumptions about the class in question, (...) we show that conditional computability is preserved by substitution, that all conditionally computable real functions are locally uniformly computable, and that the ones with compact domains are uniformly computable. The introduced notions have some similarity with the uniform computability and its non-uniform extension considered by Katrin Tent and Martin Ziegler, however, there are also essential differences between the conditional computability and the non-uniform computability in question. (shrink)

The human mind is constituted by inner, subjective, private, first-person conscious experiences that cannot be measured with physical devices or observed from an external, objective, public, third-person perspective. The qualitative, phenomenal nature of conscious experiences also cannot be communicated to others in the form of a message composed of classical bits of information. Because in a classical world everything physical is observable and communicable, it is a daunting task to explain how an empirically unobservable, incommunicable consciousness could have any physical (...) substrates such as neurons composed of biochemical molecules, water, and electrolytes. The challenges encountered by classical physics are exemplified by a number of thought experiments including the inverted qualia argument, the private language argument, the beetle in the box argument and the knowledge argument. These thought experiments, however, do not imply that our consciousness is nonphysical and our introspective conscious testimonies are untrustworthy. The principles of classical physics have been superseded by modern quantum physics, which contains two fundamentally different kinds of physical objects: unobservable quantum state vectors, which define what physically exists, and quantum operators (observables), which define what can physically be observed. Identifying consciousness with the unobservable quantum information contained by quantum physical brain states allows for application of quantum information theorems to resolve possible paradoxes created by the inner privacy of conscious experiences, and explains how the observable brain is constructed by accessible bits of classical information that are bound by Holevo's theorem and extracted from the physically existing quantum brain upon measurement with physical devices. (shrink)

The natural evolution of consciousness in different animal species mandates that conscious experiences are causally potent in order to confer any advantage in the struggle for survival. Any endeavor to construct a physical theory of consciousness based on emergence within the framework of classical physics, however, leads to causally impotent conscious experiences in direct contradiction to evolutionary theory since epiphenomenal consciousness cannot evolve through natural selection. Here, we review recent theoretical advances in describing sentience and free will as fundamental aspects (...) of reality granted by quantum physical laws. Modern quantum information theory considers quantum states as a physical resource that endows quantum systems with the capacity to perform physical tasks that are classically impossible. Reductive identification of conscious experiences with the quantum information comprised in quantum brain states allows for causally potent consciousness that is capable of performing genuine choices for future courses of physical action. The consequent evolution of brain cortical networks contributes to increased computational power, memory capacity, and cognitive intelligence of the living organisms. (shrink)

The evolution of the human mind through natural selection mandates that our conscious experiences are causally potent in order to leave a tangible impact upon the surrounding physical world. Any attempt to construct a functional theory of the conscious mind within the framework of classical physics, however, inevitably leads to causally impotent conscious experiences in direct contradiction to evolution theory. Here, we derive several rigorous theorems that identify the origin of the latter impasse in the mathematical properties of ordinary differential (...) equations employed in combination with the alleged functional production of the mind by the brain. Then, we demonstrate that a mind--brain theory consistent with causally potent conscious experiences is provided by modern quantum physics, in which the unobservable conscious mind is reductively identified with the quantum state of the brain and the observable brain is constructed by the physical measurement of quantum brain observables. The resulting quantum stochastic dynamics obtained from sequential quantum measurements of the brain is governed by stochastic differential equations, which permit genuine free will exercised through sequential conscious choices of future courses of action. Thus, quantum reductionism provides a solid theoretical foundation for the causal potency of consciousness, free will and cultural transmission. (shrink)

Our conscious minds exist in the Universe, therefore they should be identified with physical states that are subject to physical laws. In classical theories of mind, the mental states are identified with brain states that satisfy the deterministic laws of classical mechanics. This approach, however, leads to insurmountable paradoxes such as epiphenomenal minds and illusionary free will. Alternatively, one may identify mental states with quantum states realized within the brain and try to resolve the above paradoxes using the standard Hilbert (...) space formalism of quantum mechanics. In this essay, we first show that identification of mind states with quantum states within the brain is biologically feasible, and then elaborating on the mathematical proofs of two quantum mechanical no-go theorems, we explain why quantum theory might have profound implications for the scientific understanding of one's mental states, self identity, beliefs and free will. (shrink)

This book addresses the fascinating cross-disciplinary field of quantum information theory applied to the study of brain function. It offers a self-study guide to probe the problems of consciousness, including a concise but rigorous introduction to classical and quantum information theory, theoretical neuroscience, and philosophy of the mind. It aims to address long-standing problems related to consciousness within the framework of modern theoretical physics in a comprehensible manner that elucidates the nature of the mind-body relationship. The reader also gains an (...) overview of methods for constructing and testing quantum informational theories of consciousness. (shrink)

Capacity of conscious agents to perform genuine choices among future alternatives is a prerequisite for moral responsibility. Determinism that pervades classical physics, however, forbids free will, undermines the foundations of ethics, and precludes meaningful quantification of personal biases. To resolve that impasse, we utilize the characteristic indeterminism of quantum physics and derive a quantitative measure for the amount of free will manifested by the brain cortical network. The interaction between the central nervous system and the surrounding environment is shown to (...) perform a quantum measurement upon the neural constituents, which actualize a single measurement outcome selected from the resulting quantum probability distribution. Inherent biases in the quantum propensities for alternative physical outcomes provide varying amounts of free will, which can be quantified with the expected information gain from learning the actual course of action chosen by the nervous system. For example, neuronal electric spikes evoke deterministic synaptic vesicle release in the synapses of sensory or somatomotor pathways, with no free will manifested. In cortical synapses, however, vesicle release is triggered indeterministically with probability of 0.35 per spike. This grants the brain cortex, with its over 100 trillion synapses, an amount of free will exceeding 96 terabytes per second. Although reliable deterministic transmission of sensory or somatomotor information ensures robust adaptation of animals to their physical environment, unpredictability of behavioral responses initiated by decisions made by the brain cortex is evolutionary advantageous for avoiding predators. Thus, free will may have a survival value and could be optimized through natural selection. (shrink)

We discuss the multiple pass interferometer setup proposed by Unruh, and clarify some of the fundamental issues linked with complementarity. We explicitly state all mathematical instructions for manipulating the quantum amplitudes and assessing the probability distribution functions. In this respect we show that certain purely math logical limitations (requirement for consistency) prevent one to argue that there is one-to-one corespondence between paths 1 and 2 and the exit gates 10 and 9 ("which way" interpretation), and at the same time insist (...) on pure state density matrix, i. e. existent nonmeasured interference in the second building block of Unruh's interferometer. Furthermore one cannot even argue that Unruh's setup is described by mixed density matrix that keeps the one-to-one correspondence between the paths 1 and 2 and the exit gates. This last claim is mathematically consistent, however is experimentally disprovable - because one may potentially distinguish mixed quantum state from pure quantum state. One just lets the two beams captured at the exit gates cross each other. If interference can be observed the two exit gates were coherent and provide beams in pure state (superposition), while if interference cannot be observed, the state of the exit gates was mixed one. Since the captured beams at the exit gates in Unruh's experiment could interfere this implies that the whole setup is characterized with pure state density matrix and does not preserve the one-to-one correspondence between the entry points and exit gates, even in case where the destructive interference in arm 5 of the interferometer is not measured. Therefore the correct (experimentally plausible and mathematically consistent) exposition of complementarity introduced by Georgiev in 2004 is that Unruh's setup is characterized by pure state density matrix and does not keep the suggested by Unruh one-to-one correspondence. As an appendix is shown the equivalence between Unruh's setup and Afshar's setup and correct analysis of Afshar's experiment is also provided. (shrink)

We consider the complexity of the integration operator on real functions with respect to the subrecursive class M^2 . We prove that the definite integral of a uniformly M^2-computable analytic real function with M^2-computable limits is itself M^2-computable real number. We generalise this result to integrals with parameters and with varying limits. As an application, we show that the Euler-Mascheroni constant is M^2-computable.

Constructive logic with Nelson negation is an extension of the intuitionistic logic with a special type of negation expressing some features of constructive falsity and refutation by counterexample. In this paper we generalize this logic weakening maximally the underlying intuitionistic negation. The resulting system, called subminimal logic with Nelson negation, is studied by means of a kind of algebras called generalized N-lattices. We show that generalized N-lattices admit representation formalizing the intuitive idea of refutation by means of counterexamples giving in (...) this way a counterexample semantics of the logic in question and some of its natural extensions. Among the extensions which are near to the intuitionistic logic are the minimal logic with Nelson negation which is an extension of the Johansson's minimal logic with Nelson negation and its in a sense dual version — the co-minimal logic with Nelson negation. Among the extensions near to the classical logic are the well known 3-valued logic of Lukasiewicz, two 12-valued logics and one 48-valued logic. Standard questions for all these logics — decidability, Kripke-style semantics, complete axiomatizability, conservativeness are studied. At the end of the paper extensions based on a new connective of self-dual conjunction and an analog of the Lukasiewicz middle value ½ have also been considered. (shrink)

Human creativity generates novel ideas to solve real-world problems. This thereby grants us the power to transform the surrounding world and extend our human attributes beyond what is currently possible. Creative ideas are not just new and unexpected, but are also successful in providing solutions that are useful, efficient and valuable. Thus, creativity optimizes the use of available resources and increases wealth. The origin of human creativity, however, is poorly understood, and semantic measures that could predict the success of generated (...) ideas are currently unknown. Here, we analyze a dataset of design problem-solving conversations in real-world settings by using 49 semantic measures based on WordNet 3.1 and demonstrate that a divergence of semantic similarity, an increased information content, and a decreased polysemy predict the success of generated ideas. The first feedback from clients also enhances information content and leads to a divergence of successful ideas in creative problem solving. These results advance cognitive science by identifying real-world processes in human problem solving that are relevant to the success of produced solutions and provide tools for real-time monitoring of problem solving, student training and skill acquisition. A selected subset of information content (IC Sánchez–Batet) and semantic similarity (Lin/Sánchez–Batet) measures, which are both statistically powerful and computationally fast, could support the development of technologies for computer-assisted enhancements of human creativity or for the implementation of creativity in machines endowed with general artificial intelligence. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to the contributions of Helena Rasiowa to the theory of non-classical negation. The main results of Rasiowa in this area concerns–constructive logic with strong (Nelson) negation.

In the beginning of the 20th century the groundbreaking work of Ramon y Cajal firmly established the neuron doctrine, according to which neurons are the basic structural and functional units of the nervous system. Von Weldeyer coined the term “neuron” in 1891, but the huge leap forward in neuroscience was due to Cajal’s meticulous microscopic observations of brain sections stained with an improved version of Golgi’s la reazione nera (black reaction). The latter improvement of Golgi’s technique made it possible to (...) visualize the arborizations of single neurons that were “colored brownish black even to their finest branchlets, standing out with unsurpassable clarity upon a transparent yellow background. All was sharp as a sketch with Chinese ink”. The high quality of both the visualization of individual nerve cells and the work performed on studying the anatomy of the central nervous system lead Ramon y Cajal to the conclusion that axons output the nervous impulses to the dendrites or the soma of other target neurons. (shrink)

Given a class ℱ oft otal functions in the set oft he natural numbers, one could study the real numbers that have arbitrarily close rational approximations explicitly expressible by means of functions from ℱ. We do this for classes ℱsatisfying certain closedness conditions. The conditions in question are satisfied for example by the class of all recursive functions, by the class of the primitive recursive ones, by any of the Grzegorczyk classes ℰnwith n ≥ 2, by the class of all (...) functions recursive in a given function and by the class of the functions primitive recursive in it, as well as by the class of all total functions in the set of the natural numbers. (shrink)

This study is intended to provide in-depth insights into how design thinking and creativity issues are understood and possibly evolve in the course of design discussions in a company context. For that purpose, we use the seminar transcripts of the Design Thinking Research Symposium 12 (DTRS12) dataset “Tech-centred Design Thinking: Perspectives from a Rising Asia,” which are primarily concerned with how Korean companies implement design thinking and what role designers currently play. We employed a novel method of information processing based (...) on constructed dynamic semantic networks to investigate the seminar discussions according to company representatives and company size. We compared the quantitative dynamics in two seminars: the first involved managerial representatives of four companies, and the second involved specialized designers and management of a design center of single company. On the basis of dynamic semantic networks, we quantified the changes in four semantic measures—abstraction, polysemy, information content, and pairwise word similarity—in chronologically reconstructed individual design-thinking processes. Statistical analyses show that design thinking in the seminar with four companies, exhibits significant differences in the dynamics of abstraction, polysemy, and information content, compared to the seminar with the design center of single company. Both the decrease in polysemy and abstraction and the increase in information content in the individual design-thinking processes in the seminar with four companies indicate that design managers are focused on more concrete design issues, with more information and less ambiguous content to the final design product. By contrast, specialized designers manifest more abstract thinking and appear to exhibit a slightly higher level of divergence in their design processes. The results suggest that design thinking and creativity issues are articulated differently depending on designer roles and the company size. (shrink)

The brain is composed of electrically excitable neuronal networks regulated by the activity of voltage-gated ion channels. Further portraying the molecular composition of the brain, however, will not reveal anything remotely reminiscent of a feeling, a sensation or a conscious experience. In classical physics, addressing the mind–brain problem is a formidable task because no physical mechanism is able to explain how the brain generates the unobservable, inner psychological world of conscious experiences and how in turn those conscious experiences steer the (...) underlying brain processes toward desired behavior. Yet, this setback does not establish that consciousness is non-physical. Modern quantum physics affirms the interplay between two types of physical entities in Hilbert space: unobservable quantum states, which are vectors describing what exists in the physical world, and quantum observables, which are operators describing what can be observed in quantum measurements. Quantum no-go theorems further provide a framework for studying quantum brain dynamics, which has to be governed by a physically admissible Hamiltonian. Comprising consciousness of unobservable quantum information integrated in quantum brain states explains the origin of the inner privacy of conscious experiences and revisits the dynamic timescale of conscious processes to picosecond conformational transitions of neural biomolecules. The observable brain is then an objective construction created from classical bits of information, which are bound by Holevo’s theorem, and obtained through the measurement of quantum brain observables. Thus, quantum information theory clarifies the distinction between the unobservable mind and the observable brain, and supports a solid physical foundation for consciousness research. (shrink)

In neurophysiology it is widely assumed that our mind operates in millisecond timescale. This view might be wrong, because if consciousness is quantum coherent phenomenon at the level of protein assemblies, then its dynamic timescale can be picosecond one.

Entanglement measures quantify the amount of quantum entanglement that is contained in quantum states. Typically, different entanglement measures do not have to be partially ordered. The presence of a definite partial order between two entanglement measures for all quantum states, however, allows for meaningful conceptualization of sensitivity to entanglement, which will be greater for the entanglement measure that produces the larger numerical values. Here, we have investigated the partial order between the normalized versions of four entanglement measures based on Schmidt (...) decomposition of bipartite pure quantum states, namely, concurrence, tangle, entanglement robustness and Schmidt number. We have shown that among those four measures, the concurrence and the Schmidt number have the highest and the lowest sensitivity to quantum entanglement, respectively. Further, we have demonstrated how these measures could be used to track the dynamics of quantum entanglement in a simple quantum toy model composed of two qutrits. Lastly, we have employed state-dependent entanglement statistics to compute measurable correlations between the outcomes of quantum observables in agreement with the uncertainty principle. The presented results could be helpful in quantum applications that require monitoring of the available quantum resources for sharp identification of temporal points of maximal entanglement or system separability. (shrink)

In order to avoid the use of individual variables in predicate calculus, several authors proposed language whose expressions can be interpreted, in general, as denotations of predicates . The present author also proposed a language of this kind [5]. The absence of individual variables makes all these languages rather different from the traditional language of predicate calculus and from the usual language of mathematics. The translation procedures from the ordinary predicate languages into the predicate languages without individual variables and vice (...) versa have a technical character. It is desirable to make possible carrying out such procedures by performing some transformations in a suitable new language which comprises both a sublanguage similar to the ordinary predicate languages and another one not using individual variables. We shall propose now a language of the desired kind. The expressions of this language could be interpreted, in general, as denoting predicates which depend on parameters on a given object domain – this predicate has one argument and depends on one parameter). The proposed language will have the modal features noted in [3] and [5]. It is worthy of mention that the language proposed at the end of [4] although containing expressions interpreted as predicates and expressions with parameters does not allow simultaneous availability of argument places and parameters. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The notion of n-dimensional arrow structure is introduced, which for n = 2 coincides with the notion of directed multi-graph. In part I of the paper several first-order and modal languages connected with arrow structures are studied and their expressive power is compared. Part II is devoted to the axiomatization of some arrow logics. At the end some further perspectives of ?arrow approach? are discussed.

Protein α-helices provide an ordered biological environment that is conducive to soliton-assisted energy transport. The nonlinear interaction between amide I excitons and phonon deformations induced in the hydrogen-bonded lattice of peptide groups leads to self-trapping of the amide I energy, thereby creating a localized quasiparticle (soliton) that persists at zero temperature. The presence of thermal noise, however, could destabilize the protein soliton and dissipate its energy within a finite lifetime. In this work, we have computationally solved the system of stochastic (...) differential equations that govern the quantum dynamics of protein solitons at physiological temperature, T=310 K, for either a single isolated α-helix spine of hydrogen bonded peptide groups or the full protein α-helix comprised of three parallel α-helix spines. The simulated stochastic dynamics revealed that although the thermal noise is detrimental for the single isolated α-helix spine, the cooperative action of three amide I exciton quanta in the full protein α-helix ensures soliton lifetime of over 30 ps, during which the amide I energy could be transported along the entire extent of an 18-nm-long α-helix. Thus, macromolecular protein complexes, which are built up of protein α-helices could harness soliton-assisted energy transport at physiological temperature. Because the hydrolysis of a single adenosine triphosphate molecule is able to initiate three amide I exciton quanta, it is feasible that multiquantal protein solitons subserve a variety of specialized physiological functions in living systems. (shrink)

This paper is a continuation of [VAK 01]. The notion of local connection algebra, based on the primitive notions of connection and boundedness, is introduced. It is slightly different but equivalent to Roeper's notion of region-based topology [ROE 97]. The similarity between the local proximity spaces of Leader [LEA 67] and local connection algebras is emphasized. Machinery, analogous to that introduced by Efremovi?c [EFR 51],[EFR 52], Smirnov [SMI 52] and Leader [LEA 67] for proximity and local proximity spaces, is developed. (...) This permits us to give new proximity-type models of local connection algebras, to obtain a representation theorem for such algebras and to give a new shorter proof of the main theorem of Roeper's paper [ROE 97]. Finally, the notion of MVD-algebra is introduced. It is similar to Mormann's notion of enriched Boolean algebra [MOR 98], based on a single mereological relation of interior parthood. It is shown that MVD-algebras are equivalent to local connection algebras. This means that the connection relation and boundedness can be incorporated into one, mereological in nature relation. In this way a formalization of the Whiteheadian theory of space based on a single mereological relation is obtained. (shrink)

Macromolecular protein complexes catalyze essential physiological processes that sustain life. Various interactions between protein subunits could increase the effective mass of certain peptide groups, thereby compartmentalizing protein α-helices. Here, we study the differential effects of applied massive barriers upon the soliton-assisted energy transport within proteins. We demonstrate that excentric barriers, localized onto a single spine in the protein α-helix, reflect or trap three-spine solitons as effectively as concentric barriers with comparable total mass. Furthermore, wider protein solitons, whose energy is lower, (...) require heavier massive barriers for soliton reflection or trapping. Regulation of energy transport, delivery and utilization at protein active sites could thus be achieved through control of the soliton width, or of the effective mass of the protein subunits. (shrink)

Twenty five years ago, Sir John Carew Eccles together with Friedrich Beck proposed a quantum mechanical model of neurotransmitter release at synapses in the human cerebral cortex. The model endorsed causal influence of human consciousness upon the functioning of synapses in the brain through quantum tunneling of unidentified quasiparticles that trigger the exocytosis of synaptic vesicles, thereby initiating the transmission of information from the presynaptic towards the postsynaptic neuron. Here, we provide a molecular upgrade of the Beck and Eccles model (...) by identifying the quantum quasiparticles as Davydov solitons that twist the protein α-helices and trigger exocytosis of synaptic vesicles through helical zipping of the SNARE protein complex. We also calculate the observable probabilities for exocytosis based on the mass of this quasiparticle, along with the characteristics of the potential energy barrier through which tunneling is necessary. We further review the current experimental evidence in support of this novel bio-molecular model as presented. (shrink)

Four known three-valued logics are formulated axiomatically and several completeness theorems with respect to nonstandard intuitive semantics, connected with the notions of information, contrariety and subcontrariety is given.

A duality between Pawlak's knowledge representation systems and certain information systems of logical type, called bi-consequence systems is established. As an application a first-order characterization of some informational relations is given and a completeness theorem for the corresponding modal logic INF is proved. It is shown that INF possesses finite model property and hence is decidable.

Radio Free Europe used balloons to drop leaflets in an attempt to supplement radio with printed words in the 1950s—a historical moment when closing borders, censoring the press, jamming foreign radios, tapping telephone lines, and tracking letters from abroad created an almost hermetically sealed space without many means for exchanging information across the Iron Curtain. This article traces how distorted and limited information shaped Cold War propaganda and practices of information-gathering. The article further examines unpredictable environmental factors that were transformed (...) into persuasive political rhetoric. A comparative analysis of communist media shows similarities of imagination in a visual propaganda campaign across five communist countries. Fantasies evolved into an object of public interest when propaganda strategies embraced a language of facts. (shrink)

In the basic modal language and in the basic modal language with the added universal modality, first-order definability of all formulas over the class of all frames is shown. Also, it is shown that the problems of modal definability of first-order sentences over the class of all frames in the languages and are both PSPACE-complete.