Exploratory attempt of quantum probability theory on brain states under uncertainty

Rodolfo A. Fiorini

Yat-Ning Paul Lee

Conventional risk analysis and assessment tools rely on the use of probability to represent and quantify uncertainties. Modeling complex engineering problems with pure probabilistic approach can encounter challenges, particularly in cases where contextual knowledge and information are needed to define probability distributions or models. For the study and assessment of risks associated with complex engineering systems, researchers have been exploring augmentation of pure probabilistic techniques with alternative, non-fully, or imprecise probabilistic techniques to represent uncertainties. This exploratory research applies an alternative probability theory, quantum probability and the associated tools of quantum mechanics, to investigate their usefulness as a risk analysis and assessment tool for engineering problems. In particular, we investigate the application of the quantum framework to study complex engineering systems where the tracking of states and contextual knowledge can be a challenge. This study attempts to gain insights into the treatment of uncertainty, to explore the theoretical implication of an integrated framework for the treatment of aleatory and epistemic uncertainties, and to evaluate the use of quantum probability to improve the fidelity and robustness of risk system models and risk analysis techniques.

Danko Dimchev Georgiev

Ryszard Mirek

The nature of consciousness, its occurrence in the brain and its ultimate place in the universe are unknown. Probably the most interesting attempt to create a quantum theory of consciousness is that of Roger Penrose (recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics) and an American anaesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff. They are both well known for their studies of consciousness and for the thesis that consciousness originates from quantum states in neural microtubules. The starting point for this article are the authors’ considerations contained in their joint work (Penrose & Hameroff, 2017). This paper also proposes an initial attempt to combine this theory with quantum logic.

Andrei Yu. Khrennikov

Thomas F. Tracy

Recent articles by Nicholas Saunders, Carl Helrich, and Jeffrey Koperski raise important questions about attempts to make use of quantum mechanics in giving an account of particular divine action in the world. In response, I make two principal points. First, some of the most pointed theological criticisms lose their force if we attend with sufficient care to the limited aims of proposals about divine action at points of quantum indetermination. Second, given the current state of knowledge, it remains an open option to make theological use of an indeterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics. Any such proposal, however, will be an exploratory hypothesis offered in the face of deep uncertainties regarding the measurement problem and the presence in natural systems of amplifiers for quantum effects.