Abstract
A thought experiment called “Wigner’s friend ” illustrates just how far the game with Schrödinger’s cat can be played.
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Notes
- 1.
E. Wigner, Remarks on the Mind–Body Question. In: Wheeler, Zurek (1983). S. 168–181. (Original in: I. J. Good Hrsg.): The Scientist Speculates, London, S. 284–302 (1961).
- 2.
In fact, Wigner’s example was that of a photon in a superposition of two states, one of which produces a flash that may or may not be seen by his friend. His example is often set in the context of Schrödinger’s cat, which is what we have done here.
- 3.
E. Schrödinger, “What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell.” Lectures at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies at Trinity College, Dublin, in February 1943. Published in 1944 by Cambridge University Press.
- 4.
P.O. Löwdin, Proton Tunneling in DNA and its Biological Implications. Reviews of Modern Physics 35 (3), 724–732 (1963).
- 5.
See also: J. McFadden, J. Al-Khalili, Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology, Crown. Lake Arbor (2015).
- 6.
See also: G. Engel et al., Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems. Nature 446, 782–786 (2007).
- 7.
See also (in German): L. Jaeger, Wissenschaft und Spiritualität, Springer Spektrum, Heidelberg (2017), Chap. 5.
- 8.
R. Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics, Oxford University Press (1989); R. Penrose, Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness, Oxford University Press (1996).
- 9.
J. Eccles, How the Self Controls its Brain, Berlin, (1994); See also: F. Beck, Synaptic Quantum Tunnelling in Brain Activity, NeuroQuantology, Vol. 6, 2 (2008).
- 10.
See M. Donald, Quantum Theory and the Brain, Proceedings of the Royal Society (London) Series A, Volume 427, S. 43 ff. (1990).
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Jaeger, L. (2018). Wigner’s Friend: Quantum Physics and Consciousness. In: The Second Quantum Revolution. Copernicus, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98824-5_22
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