Continuing and clarifying Stapp's approach (including as Stapp does references to experimentation and evidence from parapsychology):
A Quantum Theory of Consciousness
Shan Gao
Abstract -- The relationship between quantum collapse and consciousness is reconsidered under the assumption that quantum collapse is an objective dynamical
process. We argue that the conscious observer can have a distinct role from the
physical measuring device during the process of quantum collapse owing to the
intrinsic nature of consciousness; the conscious observer can know whether he is in a
definite state or a quantum superposition of definite states, while the physical measuring device cannot ‘‘know’’. As a result, the conscious observer can distinguish
the definite states and their quantum superposition, while the physical measuring
device without consciousness cannot do. This provides a possible quantum physical
method to distinguish man and machine. The new result also implies that consciousness has causal efficacies in the physical world when considering the existence of quantum collapse. Accordingly consciousness is not reducible or emergent, but a new fundamental property of matter. This may establish a quantum basis for panpsychism, and make it be a promising solution to the hard problem of consciousness. Furthermore, it is suggested that a unified theory of matter and consciousness includes two parts: one is the psychophysical principle or corresponding principle between conscious content and matter state, and the other is the complete quantum evolution of matter state, which includes the definite nonlinear evolution element introduced by consciousness and relating to conscious content. Lastly, some experimental schemes are presented to test the proposed quantum theory of consciousness.
Keywords Quantum collapse _ Consciousness _ Causal efficacies of
consciousness _ Quantum effects of consciousness _ To distinguish man
and machine _ Panpsychism _ Unified theory of matter and consciousness
Minds & Machines (2008) 18:39–52
DOI 10.1007/s11023-007-9084-0
http://image.sciencenet.cn/olddata/kexue.com.cn/upload/blog/file/2010/9/2010910142946571464.pdf
Extract:
“. . . Consciousness is a Fundamental Property of Matter
Consciousness has a basic quantum effect that is lacking for mere matter. This
means that consciousness has causal efficacies in the physical world, and the
physical world is not causally closed without consciousness. What does this imply
for the nature of consciousness? In this section, we will further argue that
consciousness is not reducible or emergent, but a fundamental property of matter on
the basis of the quantum effect of consciousness. This may provide a quantum basis
for panpsychism, and make it be a promising solution to the hard problem of
consciousness.
If consciousness is reducible or emergent, then consciousness will have no causal
efficacies in the physical world, and the physical world will be causally closed. But
this contradicts the existence of the above quantum effect of consciousness, which
implies that consciousness has causal efficacies in the physical world, and the
physical world is not causally closed without consciousness. So consciousness must
be not reducible or emergent, but a new fundamental property of matter. We can
reach this conclusion by another concrete argument. If consciousness is reducible or
emergent, then the matter with consciousness should also follow the basic physical
principles of matter such as the principle of energy conservation etc. According to
the existing quantum principle, the nonorthogonal states cannot be distinguished.
However, as we have argued, the conscious observer or the matter with
consciousness can distinguish the nonorthogonal states in principle. This indicates
that consciousness violates the existing quantum principle, which is a basic physical
principle of matter. Thus consciousness should be not reducible or emergent, but
a
new fundamental property of matter, which is defined as the ability of being
conscious of something. It should be not only possessed by the observers, but also
possessed by atoms as well as physical measuring devices. The difference mainly
lies in the conscious content. The conscious content of a human being can be very
complex, while the conscious content of a physical measuring device, if it exists,
may be extremely simple. Such simple conscious content cannot help to distinguish
the nonorthogonal states. In order to distinguish the nonorthogonal states, the
conscious content of the measuring system should be complex enough to contain the
conscious perceptions of the nonorthogonal states. If the conscious content of a
system is null, we usually say that it has no consciousness.
On the other hand, if consciousness is a new fundamental property of matter, then
it is very natural that it has causal efficacies in the physical world, and it may violate
some existing basic physical principles of matter, which don’t include it as a
fundamental property of matter. It is expected that a complete theory of matter must
describe all properties of matter, thus consciousness, the new fundamental property
of matter, must enter the theory from the start. Since the distinguishability of
nonorthogonal states violates the basic linear superposition principle in quantum
theory, the consciousness property of matter will introduce a new nonlinear
evolution element to the complete equation of the wave function when the
conscious content is complex enough. The nonlinearity is not stochastic, but
definite. It has been argued that the nonlinear quantum evolution introduced by
consciousness is logically consistent and may exist (Czachor 1995; Gao 2004a). In
addition, we may use the definite nonlinearity element in the complete evolution
equation of matter to define the consciousness property of matter. Then just like the
other properties of matter such as mass and charge etc, consciousness is also a
fundamental property of matter that can be strictly described in mathematics to
some extent.
The above argument provides a possible quantum basis for panpsychism (Gao
2003a, 2006c), which may be a promising solution to the hard problem of
consciousness. As we know, a severe problem of panpsychism is the apparent lack
of evidence that the fundamental entities of the physical world such as electrons and
protons possess any consciousness features. Certainly, such ‘‘no evidence’’
argument can be reasonably disputed by noting that there may not exist any signs
of complex consciousness at the simplest level (e.g. the conscious content is very
simple or even null), and it may be very difficult to see them even when they do
exist there. The existence of gravitation is a good example. Its extreme weakness
between the fundamental entities doesn’t disconfirm that gravitation is not a
fundamental feature of the physical world (Seager 1999, 2001). Now the existence
of the definite nonlinear evolution introduced by consciousness may further help to
solve the above problem. Since the definite nonlinearity can be experimentally
tested even for the evolution of the fundamental entities such as electrons and
protons, it may provide a possible physical method to test the panpsychism doctrine.
It should be noted that the above argument for panpsychism depends on an
assumption that the wavefunction collapse is an objective dynamical process. In
fact, the conclusion is independent of the origin of the wavefunction collapse. If the
wavefunction collapse is caused by the consciousness of the observer (von
Neumann 1955; Wigner 1967; Stapp 1996), then consciousness will have the basic
quantum effect of collapsing the wave function, and thus consciousness should be
also a fundamental property of matter. In addition, we stress that the above
conclusion is also independent of the interpretations of quantum theory (Gao
2004a). It only relies on two firm facts: one is the existence of indefinite quantum
superpositions, the other is the existence of definite conscious perceptions.
A Unified Theory of Matter and Consciousness
Since consciousness is a fundamental property of matter, it is expected that a unified
theory of matter and consciousness will essentially comprise two parts: one is the
psychophysical principle or corresponding principle between conscious content and
matter state, and the other is the complete quantum evolution of matter state.
The
complete evolution may include three evolution terms: the first is the linear
Schrodinger term as in the existing quantum theory, the second is the stochastic
nonlinear term resulting in the dynamical collapse of the wave function, and the last
is the definite nonlinear term introduced by consciousness and relating to the
concrete conscious content.
Undoubtedly, it is very difficult to find the corresponding principle between
conscious content and matter state. Some primary analyses have been presented
(Crick 1994; Chalmers 1996; Edelman and Tononi 2000). It is expected that the
corresponding principle will naturally solve the problem of combination for
panpsychism. Here we will mainly discuss the definite nonlinear term introduced by
consciousness. Although the final form of the definite nonlinear evolution term has
not been found, we may give a primary analysis of its possible characteristics. As
we have shown in the previous example, the definite nonlinear evolution appears in
the following quantum process:
ðw1 þ w2Þv0 ! w1v1;s þ w2v2;s ¼ ðw1v1 þ w2v2Þvs; ð1Þ
where vS denotes the state in which the conscious being is conscious that the input
state w1 + w2 is a superposition state, and its appearance indicates that the
evolution is nonlinear.
First, as we have noted, the definite nonlinear evolution
introduced by consciousness will result in the distinguishability of two given
nonorthogonal states. This will further permit the existence of nonlocal communication
between two entangled quantum systems (Gao 2004a, 2006c). Especially,
the nonlocal communication can exist between two entangled conscious systems
such as human brains. It seems that some primary evidences of such communication
have been found in experiments (Duane and Behrendt 1965; Targ and Puthoff 1974;
Wackermann et al. 2003).
Next, since the definite nonlinear evolution doesn’t preserve the orthogonality of
states, the evolution can change the coherence of the branches of the state of an
external system entangled with the conscious system, and can further change the
statistic behavior of the external system. As a result,
the definite nonlinear evolution
introduced by consciousness may in principle influence the statistic distribution of
the measurement results of an external random process, and there may also exist a
correlation between the influenced results and the conscious content. We note that
some experiments may have primarily revealed this kind of quantum effect of
consciousness (Radin and Nelson 1989; Jahn et al. 1997).
Lastly, it can be seen that during the definite nonlinear evolution consciousness
results in some special change of matter state, which cannot be brought by the usual
properties of matter. Since the change of matter state generally corresponds to the
change of energy distribution among the parts of the system, the definite nonlinear
evolution introduced by consciousness will change the energy distribution inside the
system. If a conscious observer is entangled with another system, the definite
nonlinear evolution introduced by consciousness may then change the energy
distribution among the parts of the entangled system; especially it may change the
energy of the external system in a nonlocal way. Some primary evidences of this
effect might have been found in experiments (Radin 1997).
The above analysis presents a very primary framework for a unified theory of
matter and consciousness. Especially, it implies that the definite nonlinear evolution
term introduced by consciousness may possess some kind of fundamental form, and
the corresponding evolution may also bring some more basic effects. The unified
theory, if it is available, will not only tell us how the matter state evolves, but also
tell us what conscious experience the matter state corresponds to. As a prediction of
the theory, since consciousness is a fundamental property of matter, and there exists
a corresponding relation between the conscious content and the matter state, a
conscious machine can be constructed in principle. It can be reasonably guessed that
a very simple conscious machine can also distinguish two given nonorthogonal
states.
Certainly, in order to build up a complete theory of matter and consciousness,
we need the organic combination of quantum theory, information science,
neuroscience, cognitive science and psychology etc. This may be the biggest
challenge to science in the 21st century.
. . .
Conclusions
The relationship between quantum collapse and consciousness has been debated
since the founding of quantum mechanics. Quantum collapse is a big puzzle, and
consciousness is another great riddle. It might be expected that discovering their
actual connection may help to solve both problems. There are two main viewpoints
which assert that quantum collapse and consciousness are essentially connected.
The first view holds that consciousness causes quantum collapse (von Neumann
1955; Wigner 1967; Stapp 1996). The second view holds that quantum collapse
generates consciousness (Hameroff and Penrose 1996). It can be seen that these two
completely contrary views are actually two extremes concerning the relationship
between quantum collapse and consciousness. It seems more natural and reasonable
that quantum collapse and consciousness are essentially independent with each
other. In fact, this point of view is held by most physicists. But does this mean that
quantum collapse and consciousness have no connection? The answer is surprisingly
negative. As we have argued, their combination will generate an unexpected
new outcome, which can indeed help to solve both puzzles.
Although quantum collapse is an objective dynamical process, and its origin is
irrelevant to consciousness, the conscious observer can have a distinct role from the
physical measuring device during the quantum collapse owing to the intrinsic nature
of consciousness. A conscious observer is able to be conscious of his own state,
while the state of a physical measuring device can only be measured by another
measuring system. As a result, the conscious observer can know whether he is in a
definite state or a quantum superposition of definite states, while the physical
measuring device cannot ‘‘know’’. This then results in the existence of a definite
nonlinear evolution element in the complete quantum evolution of matter state,
which is introduced by consciousness and relates to the conscious content. The
definite nonlinear evolution can generate some quantum effects of consciousness,
for example, the distinguishability of nonorthogonal states, nonlocal communication,
and consciousness influencing random process etc.
The existence of the definite nonlinear evolution introduced by consciousness, if
it is confirmed by experiment, will help to solve the hard problems of quantum
collapse and consciousness, and have some profound implications for physics
(including quantum theory and relativity), the science of consciousness and the
research of psi phenomena (Gao 2006c). First, it implies the actual existence of
objective quantum collapse, and will help to complete the existing quantum theory.
Besides, its resulting nonlocal communication will reveal the limits of the principle
of relativity. Next, it implies that consciousness has basic causal efficacies in the
physical world. As thus, consciousness is not reducible or emergent, but a new
fundamental property of matter. This will establish a quantum basis for panpsychism,
and make it be a promising solution to the hard problem of consciousness.
Lastly, it may provide a possible scientific explanation for the psi phenomena. This
will help to mitigate the enmity between the scientists with different viewpoints, and
further facilitate the study of the nature of consciousness."
Note: see the references following this paper to papers and books providing additional support for this theory of the relationship of consciousness and matter..
