Quantum Potentiality and Material Actuality

Diederik Aerts, Stan Bundervoet, Bart D’Hooghe +4 more

Darwinism conceives evolution as a consequence of random variation and natural selection, hence it is based on a materialistic, i.e. matter-based, view of science inspired by classical physics. But matter in itself is considered a very complex notion in modern physics. More specifically, at a microscopic level, matter and energy are no longer retained within their simple form, and quantum mechanical models are proposed wherein potential form is considered in addition to actual form. In this paper we propose an alternative to standard Neodarwinian evolution theory. We suggest that the starting point of evolution theory cannot be limited to actual variation whereupon is selected, but to variation in the potential of entities according to the context. We therefore develop a formalism, referred to as Context driven Actualization of Potential (CAP), which handles potentiality and describes the evolution of entities as an actualization of potential through a reiterated interaction with the context. As in quantum mechanics, lack of knowledge of the entity, its context, or the interaction between context and entity leads to different forms of indeterminism in relation to the state of the entity. This indeterminism generates a non-Kolmogorovian distribution of probabilities that is different from the classical distribution of chance described by Darwinian evolution theory, which stems from a 'actuality focused', i.e. materialistic, view of nature. We also present a quantum evolution game that highlights the main differences arising from our new perspective and shows that it is more fundamental to consider evolution in general, and biological evolution in specific, as a process of actualization of potential induced by context, for which its material reduction is only a special case.

Peter Mittelstaedt

Lothar Schäfer

Abstract. I review some characteristic aspects of quantum reality and make the connection to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's vision and a generally new quantum perspective of biological evolution. The quantum phenomena make it possible to conclude that the basis of the material world is nonmaterial; that the nature of reality is that of an indivisible wholeness; and that elementary particles possess aspects of consciousness in a rudimentary way. The quantum perspective of evolution makes it possible to conclude that the emergence of complex order in the biosphere is not from nothing (ex nihilo) but by the actualization of virtual quantum states—that is, by actualizing empty states which are part of the mathematical structure of material systems, representing a logical order that is not real in a material sense but, predetermined by system conditions, has the potential to become real in quantum jumps. I show how the existence of virtual states makes it possible to suggest that a transcendent reality underlies the visible order of the world and is immanent to it; and constantly new forms evolve from it.

Gregg S. Jaeger

Da Wei

Part 3 of this series established that agents (observers) are not epiphenomenal in the determination of their own future states. This paper extends that argument to a fundamental metaphysical principle: observation is not merely epistemic (a way of knowing), but ontological (constitutive of what properties are actually realized). We demonstrate using quantum mechanics, information theory, and the formal structure of measurement that: (1) The universe contains a unique, unchanging material substance $M$; (2) $M$ possesses a superposition of potential properties; (3) Which properties are actualized depends on the observer’s measurement choice; (4) This is not mysticism; it is the formal structure of quantum mechanics; (5) Classical physics emerges as the special case where measurement choice appears collapsed. Conclusion: Reality is observer-dependent in a rigorous, physically grounded, and non-arbitrary way.

B. Keimer, Joel E. Moore