There are several other elements that make me well disposed toward the cemi theory. McFadden argues that it provides a neat solution to the binding problem, which is the question of how the actions in the various neurons come together to produce a unified experience in the conscious observer. A mind field provides a neat way of integrating the diverse affects of neurons, because fields are additive within the same space, unlike matter, which having defined dimensions, prevents other matter from existing within the same space.

Surprisingly, McFadden does not mention holography. Neuroscientists like Karl Pribram have hypothesized that the mind operates along holographic principles. The interference patterns produced by the electromagnetic fields of the brain's circuits could provide a physical basis for bioholography.

McFadden's argument regarding consciousness, up to this point, does not require any involvement of quantum mechanics. But it is certainly compatible with quantum mechanical theories of consciousness. Indeed, I find it more plausible that consciousness could interact with an electromagnetic field as a whole, rather than being directly entangled with elements of matter in the brain, such as microtubules or calcium ions. This sort of holistic operation would also help elucidate the many-to-one relationship between neurons and the mind, in which massive amounts of data flow from brain to mind in an apparently parallel stream, while a trickle of data, consisting of the choices made by the mind, flow back to the brain in an apparently serial stream.

McFadden does not reduce consciousness to electromagnetism. There would still be a domain where the qualities of conscious existence are expressed, but electromagnetic energy would provide the bridge between mind and matter.

McFadden's electromagnetic theory of consciousness may seem far out to some readers. It may well be wrong. But there is one thing I'm certain of: the eventual true explanation of consciousnessness will be astonishing and strange, for if it fit easily with existing knowledge, the mystery would have been solved years ago.

Note: In a response(pdf) to a review of the McFadden book by Matthew Donald(pdf),
McFadden and his collaborator, Jim Al-Khalili, reference the work of the physicist, Eric Heller, who is also known as Rick Heller. I am a different Rick Heller(the two of us are in a constant battle on Google, along with some guy who sells flutes shaped like a duck, to be the Rick Heller ;-: ).