Notes on Quantum Mechanics and Consciousness
arXiv Preprint Archive August 13, 2005 preprint
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Quant-ph Human consciousness Awareness Sentience Philosophy of science Epistemology Scientific discovery Scientific thought Knowledge creation Quantum physics Quantum mechanics Quantum theory Consciousness and physics Mind-matter relationship Consciousness in science Physics of consciousness |
| Key points | Argues that the a priori role of human consciousness in creating physical theories is more important than any a posteriori interplay between consciousness and quantum or classical mechanics. |
Abstract
There have lately been a variety of attempts to connect, or even explain, if not in fact, reduce human consciousness to quantum mechanical processes. Such attempts tend to draw a sharp and fundamental distinction between the role of consciousness in classical mechanics, and on the other hand, in quantum mechanics, with an insistence on the assumed exceptional character of the latter. What is strangely missed, however, is the role of human consciousness as such in the very discovery or creation of both of these physical theories. And this a priori role is far more important than all the possible a posteriori interplays between consciousness and the mentioned two theories of physics, interplays which may happen during one or another specific experiment, measurement, and so on. In this regard it is suggested that the specific features human consciousness may exhibit during interactions with quantum mechanical systems may as well have other explanations which do not appear to be less plausible, or less well founded.