Consciousness and the Collapse of the Wave Function
David J. Chalmers, Kelvin J. McQueen
arXiv Preprint Archive May 5, 2021 via arXiv
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThe idea that consciousness causes the collapse of the quantum wave function, once taken seriously by physicists such as John von Neumann and Eugene Wigner but now widely dismissed, is revisited by combining integrated information theory—a mathematical theory of consciousness—with continuous spontaneous localization, an account of quantum collapse dynamics. Simple versions of this combined theory are falsified by the quantum Zeno effect, but more complex versions remain compatible with empirical evidence. Versions of the theory can in principle be tested by experiments with quantum computers. The conclusion is not that consciousness-collapse interpretations are clearly correct, but that there is a research program here worth exploring.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Quant-ph Quantum-physics Consciousness-studies Quantum-mechanics Integrated-information-theory |
| Key finding | Combining integrated information theory with continuous spontaneous localization yields a research program for consciousness-collapse interpretations that is not clearly correct but remains empirically testable and worth exploring. |
Abstract
Does consciousness collapse the quantum wave function? This idea was taken seriously by John von Neumann and Eugene Wigner but is now widely dismissed. We develop the idea by combining a mathematical theory of consciousness (integrated information theory) with an account of quantum collapse dynamics (continuous spontaneous localization). Simple versions of the theory are falsified by the quantum Zeno effect, but more complex versions remain compatible with empirical evidence. In principle, versions of the theory can be tested by experiments with quantum computers. The upshot is not that consciousness-collapse interpretations are clearly correct, but that there is a research program here worth exploring.