Quantum physics is a big problem for those who advocate the materialistic view of the world. Experiments, such as Bell tests and delayed choice experiments, show this time and again. The physicists are scrambling to fit the results of these experiments into their materialistic theories, which they can’t really do without metaphysical assumptions, such as a spooky non-local quantum field from which matter spontaneously emerges and disappears into it again.
On this website I am usually dealing with quantum physics and often how it conflicts with the materialistic paradigm. As long as we hold on to this paradigm, we will end up in paradoxes. A new challenge for that materialistic paradigm has now arisen, DNA is not the carrier of form and function. That’s why I like to write today about that in my quantum physics and consciousness blog.
DNA, function and form
Since its discovery in 1953, DNA has been the ultimate explanation for heredity, so also the explanation for all facets of living nature, including the form and functioning of living beings and plants. Now, through experiments with simple life forms, in this case mostly a simple worm, that idea has been turned on its head, literally . In the Michael Levine laboratory, extensive research has been done on how the shape of living things is changed by influencing the bioelectric fields in these organisms.
The production of the proteins that the living being needs to function is encoded in its DNA. But how its form is created, how specialist cells go exactly where they are needed is still an unanswered question. How symmetry comes about is still a complete mystery. Why is my nose in the front and not on the side of my head?
Cells communicate electrically
How do the cells of the organism cooperate to create something like your face? And last but not least, how do they know when and where to stop? What is it that regulates this process? It turns out that this cooperation between cells is regulated by an electric field, or at least that an electric field is involved. Cells communicate with each other via electrical signals. With a growing embryo, it is electrically communicated and coordinated which cells shall perform which functions. Cells use an electrical communication language.
A technique to view these electric fields in living embryos was developed in the Michael Levine laboratory . On top of that, they are also able to manipulate the development of the organism in a different direction by manipulating those electric fields. They did this, among other living species, with a simple animal, the flatworm (planaria). This animal is already quite complex, it has a head with eyes and a brain, a torso and a tail. The critter is also exceedingly regenerative, much to the chagrin of aquarium owners. You can chop it into a hundred pieces and each piece develops into a new perfect complete planaria. And when the new animal is complete, the development stops. Each piece must therefore contain the complete information about the shape of the whole worm. Until now it was believed that this information was stored somewhere in the DNA of the organism.
The lab discovered that an electric field is involved in the development of form. Where the head and where the tail goes depends on an electrical gradient running from head to tail. The lab learned how to influence this gradient in the cells themselves. No external electric field was applied. The result was flatworms with two heads, or with two tails.
And now comes the truly amazing thing. If you chop such a two-headed planaria into pieces, each piece regenerates into a two-headed planaria again. Now remember that nothing had been changed in the DNA of the animal! The building plan is therefore NOT residing in the DNA!
In the fascinating TedTalk below, Levine talks about morphogenetic fields that direct the build of the animal. Confirmation of Rupert Sheldrake’s morphogenetic fields here?
This doesn’t just work in flatworms. In the above TEDTalk, Levine shows examples of tadpoles with extra eyes on their gut that they can also use to see, extra hearts, and extra swimming legs. They’ve even made clumps of cells, without tinkering with the DNA, that exhibit intelligent behavior, such as finding the way through a maze.
This is where an important article of faith of the materialist paradigm – we are our DNA – is completely destroyed.
Electrical form and function of organisms and inanimated matter
Following these results from the Michael Levine lab, Michael Clarage, someone who is usually more concerned with the role of electricity on at least the scale of planets and solar systems, suggests that electricity also appears to play a more important role in the development of all forms on the human scale and below, than was thought until now. He gives also special attention to the way in which cancer develops.
The link with quantum physics
This morphogenetic field manifests itself in the Levine Lab experiments as an electrical gradient, but it does not have to be itself electric. It could easily be only a correlation. When these experiments show that the form and function of organisms are a result of the action of this morphogenetic field, then this can of course be extended to all organisms without any problems. Why would planaria be the exception? Isn’t it obvious to suppose that form and function of everything, including the inorganic, is the result of such a field. This is what Clarage tries to communicate. He mentions crystals, planets and solar systems in ‘Electrical Form and Function’. In that case, the quantum state of atomic objects like an electron, proton, atom, and so on is probably nothing more than this morfogenetic field. Quantum state waves are then the simplest elementary forms of this field. If we realize this, we can clearly see the link of this experiment to quantum physics.
Paul J. van Leeuwen graduated in applied physics in Delft TU in 1974. There was little attention to the significance of quantum physics for the view on reality at that time. However, much later in his life he discovered that there is an important and clear connection between quantum physics and consciousness.
What he learned between then and today resulted in a post academic course in quantum physics for non-physicists. A little bit later he decided to put the contents of that course, and more, in a book published in Dutch: Kwantumfysica, Informatie en Bewustzijn – and started a website on the subject. He translated the Dutch version of his book in English, titled: ‘Quantum Physics is NOT Weird’.
Thank you for this fascinating article!
How is this a nail in the coffin to materialism? Everything Levin is talking about is still physical. Nothing in his work is pointing anything immaterial
Well Peter, in fact this is a nail in the coffin of the belief that DNA is the only origin and creator of life and of your morphology, Neodarwinism. And Neodarwinism is one of the most cherished pillars of materialism.