From Nobelist Eugene Wigner (1902–1995):
“The principal argument against materialism is not that illustrated in the last two sections: that it is incompatible with quantum theory. The principal argument is that thought processes and consciousness are the primary concepts, that our knowledge of the external world is the content of our consciousness and that the consciousness, therefore, cannot be denied. On the contrary, logically, the external world could be denied—though it is not very practical to do so. In the words of Niels Bohr, “The word consciousness, applied to ourselves as well as to others, is indispensable when dealing with the human situation.” In view of all this, one may well wonder how materialism, the doctrine that “life could be explained by sophisticated combinations of physical and chemical laws,” could so long be accepted by the majority of scientists. – Eugene Wigner, Remarks on the Mind-Body Question, pp 167-177.
and
“…and one can well imagine a master, even a great master, of mechanics to say: “Light may exist but I do not need it in order to explain the phenomena in which I am interested.” The present biologist uses the same words about mind and consciousness; he uses them as an expression of his disbelief in these concepts.” p. 177.
See also: How Did Mathematics Come to be Woven Into the Fabric of Reality?
and
What great physicists have said about immateriality and consciousness