Quantum Measurement, Consciousness, and the Soul: a New, Alternative Position

A new philosophical position on quantum measurement, consciousness, and the soul is proposed, starting from a first-person viewpoint characterized as Rational German existentialism. It rejects the notion that quantum measurement relates to consciousness or the soul, and argues against taking a rigid stance on three possible types of theory of everything: the multiverse, finite-dimensional Einsteinian theories, or something weirder like a digital universe. The paper further suggests that an entire species of noospheres permeating the cosmos is plausible under the first two theories and may explain veridical weird experiences.

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Abstract

This paper presents a new position on the fundamental questions about quantum measurement, consciousness, and soul, which contradicts at least one sacred assumption of every major player in today’s debates. It starts from a first person viewpoint, which may be characterized as Rational German existentialism, in the spirit of Goethe, Von Neumann, Heisenberg, and Raiffa. On that foundation, it rejects the obsolete concepts of primal ontology, supports the quest for a unified objective mathematical model of what underlies all of our experience, and concludes that we should simply not take a rigid position at this time on three possible types of “theory of everything” (1) the “multiverse” theory, according to which, we live in a “multiverse,” an infinite dimensional space like the proposals of Everett, Wheeler, and David Deutsch, or a similar infinite-dimensional realistic theory; (2) hard core Einsteinian theories, assuming a finite dimensional cosmos, which may well be salvageable mathematically in light of new work on quantum measurement, but which would require understanding ourselves as an odd sort of “shadows of Plato’s Cave”; (3) something much weirder, like random graphs, “digital universe” or cosmos as a vast neural network (of what telos?). It rejects the idea that quantum measurement has any connection to the emergent phenomena of consciousness or the soul. Further work building on this foundation rejects the classic formulation of noosphere from De Chardin and Vernadsky, but proposes that an entire species of noospheres permeating our cosmos is plausible under (1) and (2), and may in fact be the most plausible basis for explaining veridical weird experience for those of us who find it inescapable.