The article provides a critique of atomistic ontology and reductionism in explaining the nature of life and consciousness. As an alternative direction based on organic ontology, fundamental psychophysical principles and quantum-information approach, the concept of quantum monadology is proposed, the metaphysical foundations of which are given in the works of G. Leibniz and N. Lossky. A model of «elementary intelligence» in complementary unity with the elementary body is proposed. The premise of this representation is the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics. The wave function is interpreted as a prototype of consciousness, and the observed physical quantities are interpreted as a prototype of the material body of the monad given in its phenomenal experience. The probabilistic nature of the behavior of quantum particles is explained by the objective existence of chance and the activity of quantum objects, which, perhaps, should be considered as a potential basis for the formation of the psyche. To characterize the internal state of the monad, the concept of a color charge is introduced, which has the meaning of a binary information code, and the principle of dynamic complementarity is formulated. A model of the elementary «life cycle» of a quantum monad is constructed. Elementary intelligence is understood as the ability for intellectual activity, including the processing of information significant for life, as a result of which the existence of quantum monads is maintained and reproduced. A substantial justification of quantum Darwinism is given, and a hypothesis about the genesis and co-evolutionary development of the «elementary psyche» and physical body of monads in the process of global evolution is put forward. A conclusion is made about the possibility of constructing a model of quantum behavior and the synergetic interaction of monads that form more complex systems, as well as about the prospect of developing a quantum ontology of matter and consciousness. The construction of a model of «elementary natural intelligence» will contribute to the identification of fundamental ontological limitations in the development of strong artificial intelligence.
The article provides a critique of atomistic ontology and reductionism in explaining the nature of life and consciousness. As an alternative direction based on organic ontology, fundamental psychophysical principles and quantum-information approach, the concept of quantum monadology is proposed, the metaphysical foundations of which are given in the works of G. Leibniz and N. Lossky. A model of «elementary intelligence» in complementary unity with the elementary body is proposed. The premise of this representation is the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics. The wave function is interpreted as a prototype of consciousness, and the observed physical quantities are interpreted as a prototype of the material body of the monad given in its phenomenal experience. The probabilistic nature of the behavior of quantum particles is explained by the objective existence of chance and the activity of quantum objects, which, perhaps, should be considered as a potential basis for the formation of the psyche. To characterize the internal state of the monad, the concept of a color charge is introduced, which has the meaning of a binary information code, and the principle of dynamic complementarity is formulated. A model of the elementary «life cycle» of a quantum monad is constructed. Elementary intelligence is understood as the ability for intellectual activity, including the processing of information significant for life, as a result of which the existence of quantum monads is maintained and reproduced. A substantial justification of quantum Darwinism is given, and a hypothesis about the genesis and co-evolutionary development of the «elementary psyche» and physical body of monads in the process of global evolution is put forward. A conclusion is made about the possibility of constructing a model of quantum behavior and the synergetic interaction of monads that form more complex systems, as well as about the prospect of developing a quantum ontology of matter and consciousness. The construction of a model of «elementary natural intelligence» will contribute to the identification of fundamental ontological limitations in the development of strong artificial intelligence.
The article deals with the relationship of ideas about the quantum-physical foundations of the functioning of consciousness with quantum computer science. The fundamental question of the nature of consciousness as a unique phenomenon characterized by self-development, adaptive functions, nonlinearity and openness remains debatable. Modern research on the so-called “quantum concept of consciousness” opens up the prospect for subsequent discoveries of new, unsolved patterns. At the junction of quantum mechanics, psychophysics and neurobiology, an interdisciplinary field of knowledge is now being formed and dynamically developing. The comprehension of the methods and formalisms developed within its framework in application to the ontological aspect of the essential nature of consciousness is chosen as the subject of research in this work. The universal laws of quantum mechanics, the concepts of quantum entanglement and the nonlocality of the wave function are important tools for understanding the role of the observer's consciousness at the quantum-molecular level (nanoscale) of consciousness functioning. The article shows that the principles of quantum data processing have a certain superiority over traditional methods of information processing and can become a significant analogue in the development of the quantum concept of consciousness. The characteristic processes of the “work” of consciousness are revealed, which cannot be comprehended without reference to entropic processes and quantum jumps at bifurcation points, entailing stochastic choice, i.e. information generation. The hypothesis of the quantum concept of consciousness is considered in relation to the macroscopic nature of consciousness, its synergetic complexity. The main conclusion is connected with the idea that the modern understanding of consciousness is undergoing many changes due to the widespread introduction of new knowledge in the field of computer science, quantum physics, and neuroscience.
A number of modern scientists adheres to the point of view that, despite the fact that quantum mechanics does not allow to explain the existence of mental phenomena in the physical world, with the help of its inherent ontological principles and mathematical formalism, it is possible to understand the functioning of consciousness and the unconscious. Based on the analogy between quantum and mental processes, the unconscious can be represented as a superposition of mental states, and consciousness — in the form of decoherence of unconscious experiences. From an evolutionary point of view, consciousness can be considered as a consequence of the accumulation of a sufficient amount of information during the interaction of the organism with the surrounding environment, when the transition from the quantum state of the unconscious to the classical state of consciousness is carried out at the psychic level of being, by analogy with the accumulation of a sufficient amount of information by a quantum system during interaction with the environment, when at the physical level of being the collapse of the wave function. In psychotherapy and psychodiagnostics, one can see an analogy with the measurement process in quantum mechanics and a quantum leap from one mental state to another. However, the analysis of this point of view carried out in the article shows that the parallels between quantum mechanics and psychology today look insufficiently substantiated, since the mathematical model of the psyche, which allows describing human behavior on the basis of the laws of quantum mechanics, has not yet been built, which is why, firstly, the use of quantum-physical terminology in the understanding of mental experience does not rise to the level of scientific theory, remaining a metaphor, and, secondly, quantum psychology has a predictive potential, in contrast to the psychology of the classical type.
The aim of the article is to analyze the ontological foundations of quantum mechanics and the relationship of various interpretations of quantum mechanics with the question of truth in scientific knowledge. The theoretical material (various interpretations of quantum mechanics) was analyzed. The research methods were analysis, comparative-historical and institutional approaches. On the basis of the study, it can be concluded that physicists are only able to predict the probabilities of physical phenomena or processes, without any knowledge of the structure of entity in itself. The study helps to complement the theoretical picture of the ontology of quantum mechanics and to get an idea about the development prospects of the methodology of physical sciences. We should not ascribe properties that are unobservable in experience to the entity because science can truly interpret only the representation of entity in itself in experience and the ways of dealing with it, not future events or possible states of the entity. Otherwise, science “slides” down to the level of dialectical (rhetorical) exercises based not on true premises, but on generally accepted or “authoritative” biases, which gives room to extreme forms of relativism and takes natural scientists away from studying nature to inventing empirically unsupported hypotheses. When, in accordance with the Cartesian ontology, the scientist assumes that the entity is as the “subject” observes it (that is, the “reflection” of the entity in consciousness is identified with entity in itself), this assumption leads the scientist to attempts to “scientifically” describe the future events or the possible states of the entity. The criterion for the truth of a scientific theory put forward by Einstein in his dispute with Bohr remains a fundamentally unattainable ideal. Cognition of nature is probabilistically and fundamentally incomplete since a person can consciously comprehend natural phenomena only within the framework of their representation in the existing being. The probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics is due to the impossibility of knowing things as they exist by themselves, that is, as they exist outside of representation in the mind of the observer. This does not mean that physical entities did not exist before their knowledge: they existed potentially, but were not valid for the observer, that is, conscious. Quantum physics is as incomplete as any other physical theory when compared with an unattainable ideal, but this fact does not negate its truth for modern scientists since quantum theory is based on the results of verified experiments.
The article analyzes the effectiveness of quantum theories of mental experience in relation to two ontological problems - the problem of the existence of consciousness in the material world and the problem of the interaction of consciousness and body. A critical analysis of the quantum theories of consciousness by Penrose-Hameroff, M. Tegmark, G. Stapp, M. Fischer and M.B. Mensky shows that they fail to fully explain how complex physical systems generate mental experience without violating the principle of causal closure of the physical world and the principle of epistemological completeness of physics. Quantum mechanics provides specific processes that are the physical basis of the psyche, but do not explain the phenomenal aspect of subjective reality. Nevertheless, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle gives an understanding of how the interaction of consciousness and body within the scientific picture of the world can be carried out without violating the law of energy conservation. It is shown that the quantum theories of consciousness currently being developed have a predominantly panprotopsychic character, which faces a problem due to the fact that the protomental property of physical systems must be expressed quantitatively and correspond to the value included in the physical equations. As a result, it is concluded that in order to develop quantum theories of consciousness more effectively, it is necessary to give an emergent character, not jumping from the quantum level to the psychic, but explaining the mechanism of the emergence of systemic properties during the sequential transition between different ontological regions of existence, including physical, chemical, biological, neurophysiological and psychic.
Abstract Despite its extraordinary predictive power, quantum mechanics has been hailed as a paradoxical, self-contradictory theory of nature. How does it question the intelligibility of physical worldview? The wave-particle dualism, the incompatibility of physical quantities, the complementarity between the space-time description and the causal description of phenomena question key-notions of the traditional metaphysics, such as substance and cause, but they also call attention to the vital dialectical contrast between the continuous and the discrete, the infinite and the finite, consciousness and matter, and to the essential relational character of measuring, seeing, and knowing. Does quantum physics also question the Western way of thinking? The aim of this article is to show how quantum monadology not only breathes new life into Leibniz’s and Nicholas of Cusa’s monads, but also echoes Nishida’s ‘dialectical monadology’ and orients our gaze towards a metaphysics of universal harmony, i.e., a metaphysics of the dialectical universal or a metaphysics of indeterminacy.
It is the author's concept of quantum information theory as a universal paradigm of cognition and a theory of everything, integrating physics, epistemology, and the ontology of sense.The author assumes that information is not only a description of reality, but its primordial material -cognitive energy that co-creates matter, consciousness, and the evolution of civilization.The model is based on a five-step hierarchy of cognitive transformation: data → information → concept → knowledge → wisdom, corresponding to the gradual ordering of the entropy of sense.The process of cognition is quantum in nature: every act of thinking exists in the superposition of senses, and only at the moment of interpretation does the collapse of sense occur, i.e., the transition from potentiality to cognitive actuality.The author develops an analogy between the wave of cognition and the wave of matter, introducing the concepts of the amplitude of sense and cognitive entropy as formal measures of the quality of cognition.The result is a theory in which man, artificial intelligence, and the Universe participate in a single field of quantum information, and the cognitive equilibrium corresponds to the state of minimal entropy -wisdom.The article integrates the classical concepts of Bohm, Einstein, McLuhan, and Floridi, showing information as an efficient factor equal to energy and matter.The proposed concept of Homo sapiens harmonicus presents the man of the future as a being capable of harmonizing the amplitudes of sense, combining knowledge with values, and transforming technology into a tool for spiritual development.The paper concludes with the postulate of a quantum epistemology, in which philosophy becomes the science of organizing the world's information field-the art of transforming the chaos of data into the wisdom of existence.