Hard Problem and Free Will: an information-theoretical approach

A quantum-information-based panpsychism is proposed, where consciousness is a fundamental property of quantum information, and the experience of information by its supporting system solves the hard problem of consciousness. The internally experienced quantum state must be pure (ontic), while the externally predictable state is mixed (epistemic). Purity-preserving evolution, called atomic quantum operation, is probabilistic, and its outcome is interpreted as free will, which is unpredictable even in principle. This framework also addresses the combination problem of panpsychism. Short-term experience is accounted for by quantum state evolution, while long-term memory is classical and requires quantum-to-classical and classical-to-quantum transfers.

Study at a glance

Abstract

We explore definite theoretical assertions about consciousness, starting from a non-reductive psycho-informational solution of David Chalmers's 'hard problem', based on the hypothesis that a fundamental property of 'information' is its experience by the supporting 'system'. The kind of information involved in consciousness needs to be quantum for multiple reasons, including its intrinsic privacy and its power of building up thoughts by entangling qualia states. As a result we reach a quantum-information-based panpsychism, with classical physics supervening on quantum physics, quantum physics supervening on quantum information, and quantum information supervening on consciousness. We then argue that the internally experienced quantum state, since it corresponds to a definite experience-not to a random choice-must be pure, and we call it ontic, in contrast with the state predictable from the outside (i.e. the state describing the knowledge of the experience from the point of view of an external observer) which we call epistemic and is generally mixed. Purity of the ontic state requires an evolution that is purity preserving, namely a so-called 'atomic' quantum operation. The latter is generally probabilistic, and its particular outcome is interpreted as the free will, which is unpredictable even in principle since quantum probability cannot be interpreted as lack of knowledge. The same purity of state and evolution allows solving the 'combination problem' of panpsychism. Quantum state evolution accounts for a short-term buffer of experience and contains itself quantum-to-classical and classical-to-quantum information transfers. Long term memory, on the other hand, is classical, and needs memorization and recall processes that are quantum-to-classical and classical-to-quantum, respectively...