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Springer eBooks

Exploring Free Will and Consciousness in the Light of Quantum Physics and Neuroscience

Peter James Adams, Antoine Suárez

Published Nov 21, 2012• 3 citations
Publisher
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4614-5212-6_18

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OBJECTIVE: Theories about consciousness are in an initial state of development. In the recent past, diverse theories have been proposed to explain the phenomenon of the consciousness using the Quantum Mechanics (QM) as a fundamental tool. Here, we criticize some of these theories in the light of the current knowledge in neuroscience. DEVELOPMENT: The QM theories of consciousness by John Eccles, Dana Zohar and Roger Penrose are discussed. For a better understanding of these theories, some physical principles of the quantum formalism are firstly introduced. We then expose these theories in the authors original formalism and discuss them from a neuroscientist point of view. DISCUSSION: As currently exposed, the three QM theories of consciousness suffer from important neuroscientist concerns. It is not necessary the use QM to explain different aspects of brain function such as consciousness, which would be better understood using tools from the neurosciences

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Western philosophy and science have a strongly dualistic tradition regarding the mental and physical aspects of reality, which makes it difficult to understand their possible causal relations. In recent debates in cognitive neuroscience it has been common to claim on the basis of neural experiments that conscious experiences are causally inefficacious. At the same time there is much evidence that consciousness does play an important role in guiding behavior. The author explores whether a new way of understanding the causal role of mental states and consciousness could be provided by the ontological interpretation of the quantum theory (Bohm and Hiley, Phys. Rep. 144:323–348, 1987; Bohm and Hiley, The undivided universe: An ontological interpretation of quantum theory. Routledge: London, 1993). This interpretation radically changes our notion of matter by suggesting that a new type of active information plays a causal role at the quantum level of reality. The author thus considers to what extent the alleged causal powers of consciousness involve information, and then moves on to consider whether information in (conscious) mental states can be connected to the information at the level of quantum physics. In this way he sketches how quantum theory might help to throw light upon one of the grand challenges facing the social sciences and the humanities, namely the question of whether consciousness plays any genuine causal role in the physical world.

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This essay develops a post-Bohmian framework for understanding reality as an informational and computational ontology rather than a material substrate. Building on David Bohm’s implicate order, it proposes that consciousness functions as the active rendering mechanism of reality—transforming quantum potential into phenomenological form through observation and interaction. Integrating insights from quantum mechanics, neuroscience, and systems theory, the text argues that perception operates as an adaptive interface, not as a transparent window to an external world. The concept of computational efficiency is introduced to reinterpret physical constraints—such as the speed of light and quantum indeterminacy—as expressions of systemic optimization within a larger simulation-like architecture. Further, the essay explores how biological systems act as distributed rendering nodes that stabilize reality through coherent interpretation, and how altered states of consciousness reveal the underlying informational substrate by temporarily bypassing perceptual filters. Ethically, the work redefines human responsibility: consciousness is not a passive byproduct of the universe, but its active co-creator. The act of perception is thus both epistemic and ontological—a process through which the universe continuously updates itself. This post-Bohmian synthesis aims to reconcile the experiential, physical, and informational dimensions of existence under a unified paradigm of conscious computation.

•Nov 13, 2025•0 citations
OBJECTIVE: Theories about consciousness are in an initial state of development. In the recent past, diverse theories have been proposed to explain the phenomenon of the consciousness using the Quantum Mechanics (QM) as a fundamental tool. Here, we criticize some of these theories in the light of the current knowledge in neuroscience. DEVELOPMENT: The QM theories of consciousness by John Eccles, Dana Zohar and Roger Penrose are discussed. For a better understanding of these theories, some physical principles of the quantum formalism are firstly introduced. We then expose these theories in the authors original formalism and discuss them from a neuroscientist point of view. DISCUSSION: As currently exposed, the three QM theories of consciousness suffer from important neuroscientist concerns. It is not necessary the use QM to explain different aspects of brain function such as consciousness, which would be better understood using tools from the neurosciences
Western philosophy and science have a strongly dualistic tradition regarding the mental and physical aspects of reality, which makes it difficult to understand their possible causal relations. In recent debates in cognitive neuroscience it has been common to claim on the basis of neural experiments that conscious experiences are causally inefficacious. At the same time there is much evidence that consciousness does play an important role in guiding behavior. The author explores whether a new way of understanding the causal role of mental states and consciousness could be provided by the ontological interpretation of the quantum theory (Bohm and Hiley, Phys. Rep. 144:323–348, 1987; Bohm and Hiley, The undivided universe: An ontological interpretation of quantum theory. Routledge: London, 1993). This interpretation radically changes our notion of matter by suggesting that a new type of active information plays a causal role at the quantum level of reality. The author thus considers to what extent the alleged causal powers of consciousness involve information, and then moves on to consider whether information in (conscious) mental states can be connected to the information at the level of quantum physics. In this way he sketches how quantum theory might help to throw light upon one of the grand challenges facing the social sciences and the humanities, namely the question of whether consciousness plays any genuine causal role in the physical world.
This essay develops a post-Bohmian framework for understanding reality as an informational and computational ontology rather than a material substrate. Building on David Bohm’s implicate order, it proposes that consciousness functions as the active rendering mechanism of reality—transforming quantum potential into phenomenological form through observation and interaction. Integrating insights from quantum mechanics, neuroscience, and systems theory, the text argues that perception operates as an adaptive interface, not as a transparent window to an external world. The concept of computational efficiency is introduced to reinterpret physical constraints—such as the speed of light and quantum indeterminacy—as expressions of systemic optimization within a larger simulation-like architecture. Further, the essay explores how biological systems act as distributed rendering nodes that stabilize reality through coherent interpretation, and how altered states of consciousness reveal the underlying informational substrate by temporarily bypassing perceptual filters. Ethically, the work redefines human responsibility: consciousness is not a passive byproduct of the universe, but its active co-creator. The act of perception is thus both epistemic and ontological—a process through which the universe continuously updates itself. This post-Bohmian synthesis aims to reconcile the experiential, physical, and informational dimensions of existence under a unified paradigm of conscious computation.