Chance, Choice, and Consciousness: The Role of Mind in the Quantum Brain

Standard quantum mechanics includes a deterministic, local process governed by equations of quantum field theory, and a second, nonlocal process that selects one actual reality from a range of possibilities. This second process is usually attributed to irreducible chance, which the author argues makes the theory non-naturalistic because it introduces an element outside the physical universe. The paper presents a quantum mechanical model of brain dynamics where this selection process is not random but is instead a causal, nonlocal physical process that can be identified with consciousness.

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Abstract

Contemporary quantum mechanical description of nature involves two processes. The first is a dynamical process governed by the equations of local quantum field theory. This process is local and deterministic, but it generates a structure that is not compatible with observed reality. A second process is therefore invoked. This second process somehow analyzes the structure generated by the first process into a collection of possible observable realities, and selects one of these as the actually appearing reality. This selection process is not well understood. It is necessarily nonlocal and, according to orthodox thinking, is governed by an irreducible element of chance. The occurrence of this irreducible element of chance means that the theory is not naturalistic: the dynamics is controlled in part by something that is not part of the physical universe. The present work describes a quantum mechanical model of brain dynamics in which the quantum selection process is a causal process governed not by pure chance but rather by a mathematically specified nonlocal physical process identifiable as the conscious process.