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NeuroQuantology

Derivation of Some Characteristics of Quantum Theory from an Analogy with the Dreaming Brain

Thomas G. Schumann

Published May 26, 2010• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An analogy is made with a dream created by a brain to reproduce many of the aspects of our observed reality as described by quantum physics. Among these are the quantum theoretical method of calculating probabilities by means of complex amplitudes, quantum statistics and the disturbance of systems by observation and consequent non-commutation of some observations. Arguments are made for the subjective nature of probability amplitudes, often called wave functions. Some paradoxes or conceptual problems are resolved or clarified, such as the Schrodinger cat paradox, the preferred basis problem and the anthropic principle.

DOI
10.14704/nq.2010.8.2.283

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An analogy is made with a dream created by a brain to reproduce many of the aspects of our observed reality as described by quantum physics. Among these are the quantum theoretical method of calculating probabilities by means of complex amplitudes, quantum statistics and the disturbance of systems by observation and consequent non-commutation of some observations. Arguments are made for the subjective nature of probability amplitudes, often called wave functions. Some paradoxes or conceptual problems are resolved or clarified, such as the Schrodinger cat paradox, the preferred basis problem and the anthropic principle.
This book examines a number of problems of quantum mechanics, most of which are not usually discussed. What is the origin of probabilities in the mechanics of the microworld? What is the nature of Planck's constant h? What is the nature of probability amplitudes? What is the wave function? A system of axioms for quantum theory is formulated. A model is studied according to which a classical oscillator in a thermostat can be interpreted as a quantum one. The measurement problem is discussed in detail. For advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and specialists interested in the foundations of quantum theory.
Schrodinger's Cat: Empirical research into the radical subjective solution of the measurement problem\n\nDick J. Bierman & Stephen Whitmarsh\n\n \n\nThe most controversial of all solutions of the measurement problem holds that a measurement is not completed until a conscious observation is made.\n\nIn other words quantum physics is a science of potentialities and the measurement i.c. the conscious observation brings about the reality by reducing the state vector to one of the Eigen-states.\n\nIn a series of experiments modeled after the famous experiment by the Shimony group we have explored the brain responses of observers of a quantum event. \n\nIn about 50% of the exosures this quantum event had already been observed about one second earlier by another person. This random manipulation was unknown to the final observer. \n\nThe first experiment along these lines gave suggestive evidence for a difference in brain responses dependent on the manipulation. In subsequent experiments quantum events were mixed with classical events and the results of these experiments that have been reported elsewhere were ambiguous. \n\nIn a final experiment we are trying to solve the paradoxical results obtained so far. In this experiment the final observer receives detailed information about the type of event that (s)he observes. Also the experimental protocol is such that not only pre-observed events cannot be distinguished from not pre-observed events on the basis of their physical characteristic but neither on the basis of inter-event time distributions.
I take a pragmatist perspective on quantum theory. This is not a view of the world described by quantum theory. In this view quantum theory itself does not describe the physical world, nor our observatons, experiences or opinions of it. Instead, the theory offers reliable advice on when to expect an event of one kind or another, and on how strongly to expect each possible outcome of that event. The actual outcome is a perspectival fact: a fact relative to a physical context of assessment. Measurement outcomes and quantum states are both perspectival. By noticing that each must be relativized to an appropriate physical context one can resolve the measurement problem and the problem of nonlocal action. But if the outcome of a quantum measurement is not an absolute fact, then why shoud the statistics of such outcomes give us any objective reason to accept quantum theory? One can describe extensions of the scenario of Wigner's friend in which a statement expressing the outcome of a quantum measurement would be true relative to one such context but not relative to another. However, physical conditions in our world prevent us from realizing such scenarios. Since the outcome of every actual quantum measurement is certified at what is essentially a single context of assessment, the outcome relative to that context is an objective fact in the only sense that matters for science. We should accept quantum theory because the statistics these outcomes display are just those it leads us to expect.
Classical anthropic reasoning relies on a binary observer model that treats existence as a yes/no variable, generating persistent paradoxes in self-locating uncertainty, indexical probability, and observer-selection effects. This work introduces Qutrit Anthropics, a triadic framework that models the observer as an SU(3)-symmetric quantum-geometric entity embedded in the complex projective plane CP². Using the Fubini–Study metric, symplectic volume, and the algebraic structure of SU(3), the paper resolves classical paradoxes such as Sleeping Beauty, the Doomsday Argument, observer-moment duplication, and SIA inflation. The framework demonstrates that anthropic paradoxes arise from forcing binary logic onto a system whose natural geometry is triadic, curved, and compact. Qutrit Anthropics reframes observerhood as a bundle section over CP², establishing a unified quantum-geometric basis for probability, existence, and indexical reasoning.