Consciousness and Quantum Physics in the Interpretation of Reality

Surendra Sherchan

Stephen Priest

Interpretations of quantum physics are shown to presuppose the reality of consciousness. But if a minimal realism about the external world is true, then the consciousness presupposed by quantum reality cannot be only that of the scientific observer, cannot be only ‘local’ but must be ‘global’. Global consciousness is argued to have all and only the essential properties of God. Quantum reality depends on God’s consciousness and the physical world depends on quantum reality. Therefore, the physical world depends on God’s consciousness.

Paavo Pylkkänen

Christopher Giguere

Many open questions or unsolved problems exist in all areas of physics. In Foundations of Physics, one open question, a century old, is how does quantum reality give rise to classical reality. This is called the quantum-classical transition, for which there are many interpretations formally called the interpretations of quantum mechanics. Now, the open problem may be located in physics, but is ultimately a philosophical problem. Physics has been unable to solve this problem with the methods of physics, say mathematics. Instead, the problem is philosophical in nature—the discipline from which physics came about—and so needs (in spite of what many hardcore physicists may detest) philosophy to solve this problem. A new angle on the subject is required; perhaps a different science may be useful, that of neuroscience. The alternative theory presented here, the Brain Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (BIQM)—which states that classical reality is the brain’s interpretation of quantum reality appearing in our collective consciousness—represents a multidisciplinary fusion of philosophy of physics, neuroscience, and consciousness studies to attack this key and lingering unsolved problem in the Foundations of Physics. This paper seeks to provide solutions for two main unsolved problems: 1) the interpretation of quantum mechanics and, by virtue, 2) the consciousness/matter problem, which is an open problem in the philosophy of mind and consciousness studies. This article not only represents an interpretation of quantum mechanics, but is a fairly comprehensive theory of reality.

Bruce Rosenblum, Fred Kuttner, Henry Pierce Stapp

Ranjan Mukhopadhyay

The hard problem in consciousness is the problem of understanding how physical processes in the brain could give rise to subjective conscious experience. In this paper, I suggest that in order to understand the relationship between consciousness and the physical world, we need to probe deeply into the nature of physical reality. This leads us to quantum physics and to a second explanatory gap: that between quantum and classical reality. I will seek a philosophical framework that can address these two gaps simultaneously. Our analysis of quantum mechanics will naturally lead us to the notion of a hidden reality and to the postulate that consciousness is an integral component of this reality. The framework proposed in the paper provides the philosophical underpinnings for a theory of consciousness while satisfactorily resolving the interpretation problem in quantum mechanics without the need to alter its mathematical structure. I also discuss some implications for a scientific theory of consciousness.