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Is There a Link Between Quantum Mechanics and Consciousness?

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Book cover Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the History of Neuroscience

Part of the book series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences ((HPTL,volume 6))

Abstract

This essay examines the link (if any) between quantum mechanics and consciousness and the problem of interpretation. The ‘measurement problem’ that arises from the ‘Copenhagen Interpretation’ is discussed and alternative interpretations such as Everett’s ‘Parallel Worlds’, Bohm’s ‘Hidden Variables’ and the ‘Heisenberg-Dirac Propensity’ interpretations are examined. The role of consciousness in the ‘Parallel Worlds’ theory is examined in greater detail together with quantum theories of mind due to Stapp, Eccles, Hodgson and Penrose. The affect of ‘Interactive Decoherence’ on proposed theories of quantum dependant brain function is also discussed.

“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics”.

Richard Feynman in The Character of Physical Law. Modern Library, 1994

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Planck 1901.

  2. 2.

    Stefan 1879.

  3. 3.

    Boltzmann 1884.

  4. 4.

    Einstein 1905.

  5. 5.

    Einstein 1906.

  6. 6.

    Bohr 1913a.

  7. 7.

    Bohr 1913b.

  8. 8.

    Bohr 1913c.

  9. 9.

    De Broglie 1924.

  10. 10.

    Davidson and Germer 1927.

  11. 11.

    Schröedinger 1926.

  12. 12.

    Heisenberg 1925.

  13. 13.

    Heisenberg 1926.

  14. 14.

    Young 1804.

  15. 15.

    Bohr 1928.

  16. 16.

    Bohr 1935.

  17. 17.

    Schröedinger 1935.

  18. 18.

    Maxwell 1974.

  19. 19.

    Von Neumann 1955.

  20. 20.

    Wigner 1961.

  21. 21.

    Wigner 1962.

  22. 22.

    Wigner 1967.

  23. 23.

    Wigner 1977.

  24. 24.

    Barrow and Tipler 1986.

  25. 25.

    Hodgson 1991.

  26. 26.

    Heisenberg 1958.

  27. 27.

    Davies 2004.

  28. 28.

    Penrose 1986.

  29. 29.

    Penrose 1996.

  30. 30.

    Smith 2006.

  31. 31.

    Smith 2009.

  32. 32.

    Feyerabend 1968.

  33. 33.

    Feyerabend 1969.

  34. 34.

    Stapp 1993.

  35. 35.

    Bohm 1952.

  36. 36.

    Bohm 1990.

  37. 37.

    Everett 1957.

  38. 38.

    De Witt 1970.

  39. 39.

    Squires 1990.

  40. 40.

    Deutsch 1985.

  41. 41.

    Lockwood 1996.

  42. 42.

    Lockwood 1996.

  43. 43.

    Lockwood 1989.

  44. 44.

    Lockwood 1989.

  45. 45.

    Albert and Loewer 1988.

  46. 46.

    Albert and Loewer 1989.

  47. 47.

    Stapp 2001.

  48. 48.

    Stapp 2007.

  49. 49.

    Dennett 1991.

  50. 50.

    Bell 1987.

  51. 51.

    Nagel 1976.

  52. 52.

    Libet et al. 1979.

  53. 53.

    Libet et al. 1992.

  54. 54.

    Penrose 1989.

  55. 55.

    Penrose 1994.

  56. 56.

    Penrose 1997.

  57. 57.

    Hameroff 1994.

  58. 58.

    McKemmish et al. 2009.

  59. 59.

    Eccles 1990.

  60. 60.

    Eccles 1986.

  61. 61.

    Beck 1996.

  62. 62.

    Eccles 1994.

  63. 63.

    Ricciardi and Umezawa 1967.

  64. 64.

    Vitiello 1995.

  65. 65.

    Vitiello 2001.

  66. 66.

    Stuart et al. 1978, 1979.

  67. 67.

    Pessa and Vitiello 2003.

  68. 68.

    Freeman and Vitiello 2006.

  69. 69.

    Godel 1931.

  70. 70.

    Godel 1951.

  71. 71.

    Searle 1980.

  72. 72.

    Searle 2007.

  73. 73.

    Lewis 1979.

  74. 74.

    Bowie 1982.

  75. 75.

    Feferman 2006.

  76. 76.

    Dreyfus 1972.

  77. 77.

    Koch and Hepp 2006.

  78. 78.

    Zurek 1991.

  79. 79.

    Tegmark 2000a.

  80. 80.

    Tegmark 2000b.

  81. 81.

    Zeh 1970.

  82. 82.

    Zeh 1999.

  83. 83.

    Scott 1996.

  84. 84.

    Hawking 1997.

  85. 85.

    Hepp 1999.

  86. 86.

    Satari et al. 1993.

  87. 87.

    Hagan et al. 2002.

  88. 88.

    Chalmers 1995.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Barry K. Ward

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Correspondence to Barry K. Ward .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vision Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    C.U.M. Smith

  2. Department of Psychology, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan, USA

    Harry Whitaker

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Ward, B.K. (2014). Is There a Link Between Quantum Mechanics and Consciousness?. In: Smith, C., Whitaker, H. (eds) Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the History of Neuroscience. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8774-1_15

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