Has Quantum Mechanics Something to Say About Consciousness?
Shantena Augusto Sabbadini
The MIT Press eBooks December 16, 2025 DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/14600.003.0018 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that quantum measurement outcomes are unpredictable "acts of creation" occurring in consciousness, which is fundamental and cannot be accounted for in physical terms. |
Abstract
But quantum mechanics has nothing to say about the individual result of a measurement.It does not tell us whether in any given instance we will find Schrödinger's cat alive or dead.The outcome in a specific instance is intrinsically unpredictable: it is what Wolfgang Pauli called "an act of creation."This chapter proposes that such acts of creation happen in consciousness.The world unfolds through continuous acts of creation.While the wave function of the universe evolves in a perfectly deterministic way, compatible with all pos si ble experiences, the experienced world is constantly generating new unpredictable events, new "acts of creation."Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms.For consciousness is absolutely fundamental.It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.