Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics

Consciousness and quantum mechanics are two great mysteries of our time--and recently scholars have postulated a deeper connection between them. Exploring this possible connection can be fruitful: an analysis of the conscious mind and psychophysical connection can be indispensable in understanding quantum mechanics and solving the notorious measurement problem, and there is also likely some kind of intimate connection between quantum mechanics--the most fundamental theory of the physical world--and our efforts to explain, naturalistically, the phenomenon of consciousness. The seventeen newly written chapters in this volume are divided into three sections: Consciousness and the Wave Function Collapse, Consciousness in Quantum Theories, and Quantum Approaches to Consciousness. This is the first volume to provide a comprehensive review and thorough analysis of intriguing conjectures about the connection between consciousness and quantum mechanics. Written by leading experts in physics, philosophy, and cognitive science, Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics will be of value to students and researchers working on the foundations of quantum mechanics and the philosophy of mind.

Shan Gao is Professor of Philosophy at the Research Center for Philosophy of Science and Technology, Shanxi University. He is the founder and managing editor of the International Journal of Quantum Foundations and is the author of several books, including the recent monograph The Meaning of the Wave Function: In Search of the Ontology of Quantum Mechanics (2017). His research focuses on the philosophy of physics, especially the foundations of quantum mechanics. He also has interests in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science.

Acknowledgments List of Contributors Introduction Part I. Consciousness and Wave Function Collapse Chapter 1: Consciousness and the Collapse of the Wave Function, David Chalmers and Kelvin McQueen Chapter 2: The Subjective-Objective Collapse Model: Virtues and Challenges, Elias Okon and Miguel Ángel Sebastián Chapter 3: Quantum Mentality: Panpsychism and Panintentionalism, J. Acacio de Barros and Carlos Montemayor Chapter 4: Perception Constraints on Mass-Dependent Spontaneous Localization, Adrian Kent Part II. Consciousness in Quantum Theories Chapter 5: Quantum Mechanics and the Consciousness Constraint, Philip Goff Chapter 6: Against "Experience", Peter J. Lewis Chapter 7: Why physics should care about the mind, and how to think about it without worrying about the mind-body problem, Jenann Ismael Chapter 8: Why Mind Matters in Quantum Mechanics, Shan Gao Chapter 9: The Nature of Belief in No-Collapse Everett Interpretations, Paul Skokowski Chapter 10: The Completeness of Quantum Mechanics and the Determinateness and Consistency of Intersubjective Experience: Wigner's Friend and Delayed Choice, Michael Silberstein and W. M. Stuckey Chapter 11: The Roles Ascribed to Consciousness in Quantum Physics: A Revelator of Dualist (or Quasi-Dualist) Prejudice, Michel Bitbol Chapter 12: Proposal to Use Humans to Switch Settings in a Bell Experiment, Lucien Hardy Part III. Quantum Approaches to Consciousness Chapter 13: New Physics for the Orch-OR Consciousness Proposal, Roger Penrose Chapter 14: Orch OR and the Quantum Biology of Consciousness, Stuart Hameroff Chapter 15: Can Quantum Mechanics Solve the Hard Problem of Consciousness? Basil J. Hiley and Paavo Pylkkänen Chapter 16: Strange Trails: Science to Metaphysics, William Seager Chapter 17: On the Place of Qualia in a Relational Universe, Lee Smolin Bibliography Index