Consciousness and the Quantum
arXiv Preprint Archive February 25, 2011
Summary
New research reveals how quantum mechanics may explain human consciousness through mathematical "awareness operators." Scientists propose that conscious experiences exist simultaneously with varying degrees of reality, similar to parallel quantum states. This deterministic model suggests our perceptions are precisely calculated quantum measurements, challenging traditional views of consciousness and free will.
Abstract
Sensible Quantum Mechanics or Mindless Sensationalism is a framework for relating consciousness to a quantum universe. It states that each conscious perception has a measure that is given by the expectation value of a corresponding quantum "awareness operator" in a fixed quantum state of the universe. The measures can be interpreted as frequency-type probabilities for a large set of perceptions that all actually exist with varying degrees of reality, so detailed theories within this framework are testable. The measures are not propensities for potentialities to be actualized, so there is nothing indeterministic in this framework, and no free will in the incompatibilistic sense. As conscious perceptions are determined by the awareness operators and the quantum state, they are epiphenomena. No fundamental relation is postulated between different perceptions (each being the entirety of a single conscious experience and thus not in direct contact with any other), so SQM or MS, a variant of Everett's "many-worlds" framework, is a "many-perceptions" framework but not a "many-minds" framework.