The medium almost certainly is
not the message. Cognition and consciousness both need a medium,
or media, that can support diverse types of information and to allow
interactions of this information in a large variety of ways. We
may expect that consciousness will not be found to be a state or
substance in the usual physics sense, yet we do need to consider the
sort of medium or "state" that can support the processes of conscious
"flux".
There are two apparently contradictory aspects to
consciousness. The first of these is that information within
consciousness is highly constrained and apparently localized in its
conscious interactions (with the exception of select information
brought in by neurons). The second is that consciousness is
apparently also highly fluid and easy to shift, combine, and to
disappear into the unconscious. We experience the "stream of
consciousness" in many situations. The medium or media of
consciousness must accommodate both of these conscious experiences.
This is where electric consciousness fits like no
other model of consciousness. Since the most powerful actors
within the electric fields are going to be the action-potentials (nerve
spikes), and these are themselves quite localized, with attendent
electric fields which drop off sharply from their source, the primary
interactions within the electric fields are going to be
information/energy spikes which are pinned to the action-potentials and
which interact discretely only across relatively short distances.
Here is where many turn incredulous, however.
Because they believe that consciousness is a global unity and
interacting without any impediment across the entirety of
consciousness, they also suppose that short-range interactions are
insufficient for consciousness. Almost certainly, however, only
short range interactions, along with select communications across the
brain, can keep information from interacting indiscriminately with
unrelated information. And short-range interactions are enough to
"stitch together" an entire global consciousness if this were to exist,
or more likely, to "stitch together" various conscious islands which
communicate with each other through unconscious means (myelinated
axons, for instance).
Of all known physical phenomena, only electrical
fields appear to interact discretely enough at close range to preserve
contextuality of conscious processes, to be sufficiently fluid and
interactive in 3D to tie conscious areas together, and to be able to
shift, change, and integrate data almost instantly as perceptions are
altered and thoughts change.
Consciousness does flow swiftly and appropriately as nerve spikes
disrupt the potentials of the electric fields, while consciousness
remains always bound tightly to the underlying information states found
in the nerves. Evidently we experience consciousness in much the
same manner as one would expect the electric fields of the brain to
interact according to shifting energy/information states.
The Conscious Medium