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Izvestiya of Saratov University Philosophy Psychology Pedagogy

Consciousness and Quantum Reality

E.M. Ivanov

Published Jan 1, 2009• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The original approach to the decision of a mind-body problem which basis on philosophically rethought of H. Everett’s «multiworld» interpretation of quantum mechanics and also M. Mensky's idea about identity of consciousness with process of selection of quantum alternatives is offered. The explanation of visible psychophysical interaction and processes of a reduction of wave function in the quantum mechanics is offered.

DOI
10.18500/1819-7671-2009-9-3-17-21

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The original approach to the decision of a mind-body problem which basis on philosophically rethought of H. Everett’s «multiworld» interpretation of quantum mechanics and also M. Mensky's idea about identity of consciousness with process of selection of quantum alternatives is offered. The explanation of visible psychophysical interaction and processes of a reduction of wave function in the quantum mechanics is offered.
Conceptual problems in quantum mechanics result from the specific quantum concept of reality and require, for their solution, including the observer’s consciousness into the quantum theory of measurements. Most naturally, this is achieved in the framework of Everett’s “many-world interpretation” of quantum mechanics. According to this interpretation, various classical alternatives are perceived by consciousness separately from each other. In the Extended Everett Concept (EEC) proposed by the present author, the separation of the alternatives is identified with the phenomenon of consciousness. This explains the classical character of the alternatives and unusual manifestations of consciousness arising “at the edge of consciousness” (i.e., in sleep or trance) when its access to “other alternative classical realities” (other Everett’s worlds) becomes feasible. Because of reversibility of quantum evolution in EEC, all time moments in the quantum world are equivalent, while the impression of flow of time appears only in consciousness. If it is assumed that consciousness may influence the probabilities of alternatives (which is consistent in case of infinitely many Everett’s worlds), EEC explains free will, “probabilistic miracles” (observing low-probability events), and decreasing entropy in the sphere of life.
Introduction We saw in Part I that in addition to explaining consciousness there is another hard problem for the modern scientific worldview – understanding what quantum physics is telling us about reality. And if anything this one is harder. In philosophy of mind there is at least consensus enough for an orthodox position to exist (materialism), and a widespread expectation that it will be vindicated by future neuroscience. By contrast, in philosophy of physics all sides understand that quantum theory is compatible with a variety of metaphysical interpretations, and have little hope that new empirical discoveries will settle the matter. But both problems are “hard” in the sense that, despite tremendous intellectual effort over many decades, no clear progress has been made toward solving them. The basic idea of quantum consciousness theory is that bringing the two problems into contact may be the key to solving both (though I will be addressing only the mind–body problem in what follows). That this could be a novel idea attests to the fact that their philosophical discussions have evolved quite separately. While philosophers of physics have long been interested in the role of consciousness in the measurement process, they have engaged little with the mind–body problem per se; and philosophers of mind have been almost unanimous in dismissing the suggestion that consciousness has anything interesting to do with quantum physics. Social scientists might echo such skepticism, wondering how adding the problem of interpreting quantum theory to the problem of consciousness will help them . Besides piling up jargon and arcane debates, in moving to the sub-atomic level we are now even farther removed from the human world, and seemingly poised to engage in the most vulgar reductionism. Yet, naïvely one might expect the two problems to be related, for two reasons. The first is the intriguing analogies mentioned in Chapter 1 between the mental and quantum domains.
We present a historical-epistemological analysis of the foundations of quantum mechanics, highlighting the relationships between quantum mechanics and scientific realism, as well as the influence of the neo-positivist philosophy of the first decades of the 20th century. The great significance of the measurement process in the context of quantum mechanics is underlined as an essential element in providing a coherent description of reality, moving from micro to macrocosm, as well as the role that the measurement apparatus and the consciousness of the observer assume during the act of measurement, the related ontological problems, the question of the objectification of the wave function, and that of the definition of discernibility. We consider also an overview of the most important alternative proposals to the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics (Copenhagen interpretation), with particular reference to hidden variable theories and other alternatives to standard quantum mechanics philosophical approach, that are modifying the vision of reality, such as the Everett’s many-worlds theory, the QBism and unified holistic approaches, such as the Primordial Dynamic Space.
We discuss mathematical models describing the action of consciousness and super-consciousness as these phenomena are defined in the Extended Everett's Concept (EEC) proposed by the author. According to the Everett's interpretation of quantum mechanics, the state of the quantum world is a superposition of various classical pictures of the world (classical realities, or alternatives). Humans, due to their ability called consciousness, perceive the alternatives separately: all alternatives are perceived, but subjectively perceiving one of them is accompanied by the sensation of the remaining alternatives as if being invisible. This causes the impression that only one of the alternatives really exists, but this is an illusion of consciousness. When consciousness (separating the alternatives) is turned off (in sleep, trance or meditation) or weakened, another ability arises called super-consciousness. Due to super-consciousness, the human gets access to the set of all alternative realities taken as a whole, selects those alternatives that are favorable, and ensures that just these selected alternatives are experienced after consciousness is turned on again. Thus, EEC explains, on the basis of quantum mechanics, those features of consciousness which are usually treated as mystical. It is shown in the paper how these features of consciousness and super-consciousness can be presented by simple mathematical models.