become commonplace in fields like quantum mechanics. With phenomena
　　　　  like the instant, simultaneous change in the spin characteristics of
　　　　  photons separated by distances of light-years, what I'm calling
　　　　  'nonlocal mind' is right at home in modern physics. Physicists don't
　　　　  have a clue how things in the quantum world can happen, but they
　　　　  don't question that they do. They honor the data."
　　　　  Indeed, many theorists are looking to the brain-teasing,
　　　　  mind-twisting strange-but-true factoids of quantum physics to
　　　　  provide at least provisional explanations for the mysteries of
　　　　  consciousness. Brain Josephson, who won the Nobel Prize in 1973 for
　　　　  his work on quantum tunneling and superconductivity, has said that
　　　　  evidence for apparent faster-than-light signaling in quantum physics
　　　　  "raises the possibility that one part of the universe may have
　　　　  knowledge of another part--some kind of contact at a distance."
　　　　  Josephson suggests that such interconnections could permit the
　　　　  operation of 'psi functioning' between humans, currently anathema to
　　　　  biomedical science.
　　　　  "The fact that nonlocal events are now studied by physicists in the
　　　　  microworld," the NIH report adds, "suggests a greater permissiveness
　　　　  and freedom to examine phenomena in the biological and mental
　　　　  domains that may possibly be analogous."
　　　　  That, according to renowned neurobiologist Gerald Edelman, M.D., is
　　　　  nothing but a load of Mandrake the Magician-class hooey. Edelman and
　　　　  colleagues at Rockefeller University's Neurosciences Institutes are
　　　　  working assiduosly on a purely biological theory of how
　　　　  "higher-order consciousness" could be produced in the brain through
　　　　  a reflexive "bootstrapping process" of its own neuronal circuitry.
　　　　  Edelman, who once planned a career as a concert violinist, sees the
　　　　  mind as an emergent property of brain tissue--"an orchestra without
　　　　  a conductor, an orchestra which makes its own music," in the
　　　　  approving summation of fellow neurologist Oliver Sacks, M.D. "To
　　　　  attempt to explain aspects of consciousness using
　　　　  as-yet-undiscovered physical fields or dimensions," Edelman comments
　　　　  acerbically, "is a bit like a schoolboy who, not knowing the formula
　　　　  of sulfuric acid asked for on an exam, gives instead a beautiful
　　　　  account of his dog Spot.
　　　　  "Some very good physicists," he adds, "have reached beyond the
　　　　  biological facts and have supposed that [the quantum is] the answer
　　　　  to the riddle of consciousness. This is an off-putting way of