How can scientists establish an observer-independent science? Embodied cognition, consciousness and quantum mechanics
arXiv Preprint Archive December 28, 2021 Peer reviewed via arXiv
Summary
The article argues that traditional embodied cognition, which posits an action-perception loop, can manifest aspects of imaginary-time quantum dynamics. To obtain real-time quantum dynamics, an embodied scientist must be described from the perspective of another scientist, a factor ignored in standard embodied cognition. Observers play complementary roles as both objects experienced by others and subjects that experience other objects, suggesting how scientists might escape the action-perception loop for an observer-independent description.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Embodied cognition can manifest imaginary-time quantum dynamics, and obtaining real-time quantum dynamics requires describing an embodied scientist from another scientist's perspective, with observers playing complementary roles. |
Abstract
Evidence is growing for the theory of embodied cognition, which posits that action and perception co-determine each other, forming an action-perception loop. This suggests that we humans somehow participate in what we perceive. So, how can scientists escape the action-perception loop to obtain an observer-independent description of the world? Here we present a set of conjectures informed by the philosophy of mind and a reverse-engineering of science and quantum physics to explore this question. We argue that embodiment, as traditionally understood, can manifest aspects of imaginary-time quantum dynamics. We then explore what additional constraints are required to obtain aspects of genuine, real-time quantum dynamics. In particular, we conjecture that an embodied scientist doing experiments must be described from the perspective of another scientist, which is ignored in traditional approaches to embodied cognition, and that observers play complementary roles as both objects experienced by other observers and ``subjects'' that experience other objects.