Putting Mind Back into Nature: A Tribute to Henry P. Stapp
arXiv Preprint Archive April 16, 2019
Summary
Quantum mechanics suggests consciousness plays a fundamental role in shaping physical reality. This tribute explores physicist Henry Stapp's groundbreaking work in q-bio.NC, demonstrating how quantum theory requires mind as an essential component of nature. His six-decade contribution bridges physics and neuroscience, showing consciousness isn't just a byproduct of brain activity, but a core feature of how reality operates.
Abstract
Henry Stapp has for 60 years been a leader, perhaps the leader, in exploring the role of mind (psyche, consciousness, experience) in the ontology of quantum mechanics. Henry's contention is that the very structure of quantum mechanics implies a central and irreducible role for mind: an experiential aspect of nature distinct from that of the physical matter and energy described by the dynamical equations of physics. The task then becomes generating interest across disciplines in the exploration of this thesis, and in particular to seek connections with neuroscience and with empirical psychology.