In “Does Quantum Physics Make it Easier to Believe in God?” (Big Questions Online, , July 10, 2012 ), physicist Stephen Barr offers an interesting argument:
That’s why, when Peierls was asked whether a machine could be an “observer,” he said no, explaining that “the quantum mechanical description is in terms of knowledge, and knowledge requires somebody who knows.” Not a purely physical thing, but a mind.
But what if one refuses to accept this conclusion, and maintains that only physical entities exist and that all observers and their minds are entirely describable by the equations of physics? Then the quantum probabilities remain in limbo, not 0 and 100% (in general) but hovering somewhere in between. They never get resolved into unique and definite outcomes, but somehow all possibilities remain always in play. One would thus be forced into what is called the “Many Worlds Interpretation” (MWI) of quantum mechanics.
But only in 70 percent of the resulting universes, in which case 30 percent of the resulting universes are … oh heck, von Neumann was right. There IS a backstop to all this and the mind is real. . More.
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I found this paper a few days ago:
The following physicist shows that allowing a conscious observer to be given an ‘ontologically complete’ role in Quantum Mechanics eliminates ‘bizarre speculations’:
I strongly agree with him, because for one thing, it was impossible to geometrically maintain centrality for radically different points of observation within the ‘sphere of the Cosmic Background Radiation’ unless the observer was granted a ‘ontologically complete’ role in the collapse of quantum wave functions:
quotes of note:
Well, only a zombie without consciousness would ever think that in the first place. 🙂
I’ve always found it curious that any conscious human would deny the primary status of their own consciousness for the mere products of logic.
BA77,
Interesting.
OP,
Ooops, I meant to say that “only a zombie without consciousness would ever DENY that in the first place.”
Does QM entail the existence of an immaterial human mind?
Short answer, YES, with absolute proof.
1. The brain occupies a finite physical space and has finite energy. Thus it has available to it only a finite set of physical states.
2. The set of allowable thoughts is an uncountable infinity, because the mind can think of not only all physically possible states, but also all impossible and improbable states.
3. There can be no mapping from a finite number to an uncountable infinity, so there can also be no mapping from brain state to thought.
4. So the mind can only have access to the uncountably infinite set of possible thoughts if it also lives in an unphysical domain not restricted by the limitations of QM.
5. The mind is immaterial. QED.