Mind over Matter - Quantum Theory and the Mind

"If a person does not feel shocked when he first encounters quantum theory, he has not understood a word of it." - Niels Bohr, Physicist

Part of the staying power of naturalism can probably be attributed to the absolutely bizarre conclusions quantum theory leads us to. Many naturalists maintain a bottom up definition of physics, which has the brain as a series of physical causes and effects, just like everything else in nature - which renders consciousness a bi-product of evolution, and free will an illusion. However with the establishment of quantum theory in the early 1900's, and it's development over the 20th century by later physicists, mankind has been led to new insight in the mind-body problem, as well as a completely new view on the operation of the universe.

Newtonian physics was based on determinism, the assumption that an observer did not effect a system being observed. Thus, in classical, Newtonian physics, the mind was rendered moot - and for those who wanted to have both, the mind had to be viewed as something physics could not effect. While Newtonian physics is a good approximation at the macroscopic level, quantum mechanics is physics at the microscopic level. Perhaps the most shocking part of quantum mechanics is this: attributes associated to subatomic particles, such as spin, direction, and momentum are not just unknown until measured, they do not exist in any definite state until measured. All subatomic particles exhibit this phenomena: when observed, they will behave as a particle, with measurable attributes. When unobserved, they will behave as a wave, with attributes only approximated by the Wave Function, which can predict where the electron may be. In other words, the electron does not have a definite location until observed, which corresponds with the collapsing of the Wave Function into measurable attributes.

This leads us to a new conclusion, one presented by physicist and mathematician John Von Neumann. According to Von Neumann, since all of material existence is quantum mechanical, the process that collapses the Wave Function must be something immaterial. Von Neumann reluctantly concluded the first interaction that particles could have with something immaterial, in theory, would be consciousness, or the mind. Throughout the late 1900's, experiments were done to see not just if consciousness could effect matter, but if it could control it in any measurable sense. Using Random Event Generator experiments, Helmut Schmidt tested whether a person could will the results to be anything other than pure chance. A huge database was collected, and it was discovered that the event an observer willed occurred approximately 51% of the time. Due to the huge number of tests, the odds of this happening were around one in one trillion due to simply pure chance. Due to this, as well as other subsequent experiments, quantum mechanics brought the effect of the mind back into popular physics.

Another odd effect, which will come into play when discussing mind-brain interaction, is the Zeno effect. Physicists have found that if they observe an unstable particle, it will never decay. In other words, physicists can 'freeze' an unstable system by continuous observation. Atoms are no longer thought of us impenetrable balls, but rather as probabilities. With this new conception of matter, physicist James Jeans wrote

"The universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a machine."

Most importantly, quantum mechanics has lead to new, interesting theories of mind-body interaction, most of which are dualistic and can accurately account for phenomena observed. Because it is now accepted in orthodox quantum mechanics that observation plays a role (other proposals, such as unknown variables, multiple worlds, etc, are less popular), the interaction between mind and brain can be better understood - the gap between mind and brain can be better explained without resorting to throwing away free will. According to Henry Strapp, the mind can concentrate for a given period of time and create a brain state that will be a 'template for action,' or voluntary motion. This can be shown in examples such as weigh-lifting, when the force able to be exerted is less when the mind is distracted. In other words, utilizing the Zeno effect, the mind can force a certain template to be held, allowing action to take place. This theory is further developed by Evan Walker, who breaks processes down even further, to the level of the electron itself. These theories all involve a dualistic nature of the mind, or a non-material entity which is able to effect the probabilities of atomic motion.

According to Chris Carter, author of Science and the Near-Death Experience, the only objections to the newly developed and dualistic theories are non-physicists who continue to hold onto a materialistic understanding. Others, due to philosophical reasons, think these new theories should be replaced by ones that render consciousness causally inert - reducing electron movement to pure randomness yet again. He feels neither of these has any rational basis in contemporary science.

This new dualistic understanding can account for phenomena such as the placebo effect, where a medicine is more effective than it should be in healing the patient due to one's feeling that the medicine is in fact helping. It can also allow us to understand phenomena such as the NDE, and psychic abilities. Although physicists will not contend on whether the mind can exist without the brain, this new dualistic philosophy of the mind, grounded in physics, changes the way one perceives human interaction with the environment.

I read once that Stephen Hawking believed the universe could have spawned from the collapse of an equation due to consciousness, similar to that of the Wave Equation collapsing when observed. This brings up two questions: Who put that equation there? And even more startling - who looked at it?