The Emergence of Consciousness in the Quantum Universe
arXiv Preprint Archive February 26, 2011 Xiaolei Zhang
Human consciousness likely emerged during the universe's self-consistent evolution as biological entities gradually gained the ability to tap into intrinsic non-deterministic potentiality in global nonequilibrium phase transitions occurring continually in the quantum universe. Because matter and energy in these transitions form a continuum, infinite degrees-of-freedom invalidate deterministic mechanical laws, allowing chance factors in emergent properties of resonantly-formed quantum particles, especially in wavefunction phases. Such chance factors, mostly random during early cosmic evolution, can be harnessed more purposefully by co-evolving biological entities due to globally-entangled quantum interactions.