Free Will and Consciousness in the Multiverse: Physics, Philosophy, and Quantum Decision Making

249 Pages·2018·3.064 MB·English

by  Christian D. Schade

Christian D. Schade
Free Will and
Consciousness in
the Multiverse
Physics, Philosophy,
and Quantum Decision Making
Free Will and Consciousness in the Multiverse
Christian D. Schade
Free Will and Consciousness
in the Multiverse
Physics, Philosophy, and Quantum Decision
Making
123
Christian D.Schade
Schoolof Business andEconomics
Humboldt University of Berlin
Berlin, Germany
ISBN978-3-030-03582-2 ISBN978-3-030-03583-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03583-9
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Acknowledgements
Let me start with my gratitude to Angela Lahee, my book editor at Springer
Physics, for her competent support, including the constructive and inspiring dis-
cussionswehad.Thebookinitscurrentformwouldnothavebeenrealizedwithout
her. I am also grateful to the referees and their careful reading of and commenting
on my manuscript; they clearly contributed to an improvement of it.
I also acknowledge the royalty-free policy of the Journal of Cognition and
Neuroethics, that printed an article containing an early version of some of my
thoughts: Schade, Christian D. 2015, “Collecting Evidence for the Permanent
Coexistence of Parallel Realities: An Interdisciplinary Approach.” Journal of
Cognition and Neuroethics 3: 327–362. Although many of my ideas and concepts
havebeenrefined(orsimplyaltered)sincethen,somepremises(andsomegraphs)
still draw from this paper.
I am especially thankful to Tanja Schade-Strohm. Tanja recently published a
German language, spiritual and philosophical book on how to become the best
version of yourself (“Werde zur besten Version deines Selbst: Aus der
VerstimmungindieBestimmung”,Bielefeld:TAO2017).Thisbookisbasedona
multiverseideaofourreality,andherbookinspiredsomeideasinmybook(visible
viaacoupleofreferences).Shealsopersonallycontributedwithvariousdiscussions
about important aspects of this book as well as ideas, testified via a number of
acknowledgementfootnotes.Iamalsogratefulforherlong-termemotionalsupport.
IfinallythankUteOttenbreitwhohelpedmewithgettingsomeoftheliterature
underlying this book as well as some formatting, proofreading, etc., of the
manuscript.
v
Contents
1 Introduction: Developing a Multiverse View of Decision Making
and Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Scientific Revolutions and Narcissistic Wounds of Mankind . . . . . . . . 1
Healing the‘NeurobiologicalWound’ and Overarching
Materialism. .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 3
Decision Making as the Core Paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
In a Nutshell: The Three Ingredients of Free Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
This Book’s Contribution to the Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Overview of the Chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PARTI SETTINGTHESTAGEFORTHECLUSTERED-MINDS
MULTIVERSE
2 Why the Multiverse Is the Most Parsimonious Way
of Interpreting Quantum Mechanics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The ‘Issue’ with Quantum Mechanics: Defining the Measurement
Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Copenhagen Versus the Multiverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Lessons from Decoherence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
“What Is the Correct Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics?” . . . . . . . 34
3 Interdisciplinary Evidence for the Multiverse, Including
a Detailed Analysis of What Time Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Can Research from Outside Physics Help Solve the Interpretation
Problem of Quantum Mechanics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
A Theoretical Framework for Predictive Physiological
Anticipation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
vii
viii Contents
But Are Times Really Parallel?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
‘Meaning’ or ‘Purpose’ of Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Reinterpreting Libet and Followers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
DothePiecesofthePuzzleFitTogether?AndWhatCanBeLearned
for the Further Development of the Multiverse Interpretation?. . . . . . . 57
4 How Different Versions of the Multiverse Interpretation
Have Different Consequences for Free Will and Ontology:
Developing the Concept of a Clustered-Minds Multiverse . . . . . . . 59
Requirements of an Appropriate Version of the Multiverse
Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Comparing Different Existing Multiverse Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Multiplicity of Physical Realities: The Realist Version
of the Multiverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
MultiplicityintheMentalRealm:AnInfinite-MindsVersionofthe
Multiverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
A Many-Minds Version of the Multiverse: The View
by H. Dieter Zeh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Infinite Minds, but Consciousness is Not Passive: The EEC
Version of the Multiverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Free, but Alone—Or not Alone, but Unfree: Singular
Perceived Reality and Universal Consciousness Interpretations
by Euan Squires. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Introducing the Clustered-Minds Multiverse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
PARTII ANSWERSSUGGESTEDBYTHECLUSTERED-MINDS
MULTIVERSEFORSELECTEDQUESTIONSIN
PHILOSOPHY
5 Dualistic Idealism: No Supervenience of Consciousness
on the Physical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Mind and Body—Different Realms? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Bottom-up or Top-Down Creation of Reality in the Multiverse? . . . . . 90
Physicalism, Supervenience, and the ‘Hard Problem’
of Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Supervenience, Decoherence, and the Multiverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Introducing the Concept of Dualistic Idealism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Contents ix
6 A Special Form of Free Will: Parallel Watching of Different
‘Movies,’ but with Different Levels of Awareness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Opening the Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Some Stereotypical Positions in the Free-Will Debate:
Short Descriptions and Critical Evaluations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The Extreme Positions Disappear: Free Will from the Perspective
of the Clustered-Minds Multiverse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Choice or Perception? A Detailed Look into the Type of Freedom
Granted Within the Clustered-Minds Multiverse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7 Are We Responsible for Our Decisions?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Continuing the Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Who Is Morally Responsible Under Which Conditions?
And Do Those Conditions in Principle Hold Within
the Clustered-Minds Multiverse? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
The Power of the Unconscious: A Caveat to Responsibility? . . . . . . . 117
Staying Away from ‘Very-Low-Consciousness’ Situations:
Cluster Membership as a Limitation or a Basis
for Responsibility? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
General Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
PART III QUANTUM DECISION MAKING IN
THE MULTIVERSE AS VECTORIAL CHOICE:
TOWARDS A TRANSFORMATION
OF THE DECISION SCIENCES
8 General Framework, Objective Function, and Probability . . . . . . . 127
Normative Decision Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Frameworks of Behavioral Decision Theory and Quantum
Decision Making in the Form Proposed by Other Authors . . . . . . . . . 131
Causation Versus Effectuation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Changing the Objective Function: Allocation of Consciousness
to Different Alternatives Instead of Choosing the Utility
Maximizing Alternative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Strengths of the Effectuation Framework for Usage
and Further Development Within the Clustered-Minds Multiverse. . . . 144
Summary, Final Discussion, and Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
x Contents
9 Different Concepts of Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Existing Utility Concepts Are (Very) Different: Which One
(If Any) Works in the Clustered-Minds Multiverse? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
“Back to Bentham?” Are There Advantages of Experienced Utility
over Decision Utility from the Perspective of the Multiverse?. . . . . . . 155
What Is Different with Experienced Utility?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Experienced Utility or Decision Utility in the Clustered-Minds
Multiverse—What Is the Appropriate Concept to Be Used
in Vectorial Choice? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
PeopleChoosingBador‘Mixed’Experiences:WhatCanBeLearned
from Cinema Films and Consumer Behavior? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Variety Seeking, Sensation Seeking, and Utility Interdependencies
between Different Versions of the Individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Utility within the Effectuation Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Final Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
10 Games and Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Strategic Choices and the Multiverse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
A Re-Analysis of Simultaneous Market Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Playing Rapoport’s (1995) Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Simultaneous Market Entry as a Game Played
in the Multiverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Clustering within the Clustered-Minds Multiverse:
Can Anything More Generally be Learned from
the Rapoport (1995) Experiment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Lessons beyond Rapoport’s Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Market Entry Once More: The Case of ‘Overconfidence’ . . . . . . . . 181
Playing against Computers: A Different Story
from the Perspective of the Multiverse?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
PART IV CONSEQUENCES FOR SELECTED
PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA
AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
11 Repetition Compulsion and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies. . . . . . . . . . . 191
Repetition Compulsion—“Beyond the Pleasure Principle”. . . . . . . . . . 191
Repetition Compulsion as Vectorial Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Definition, Examples, and Explanation
via the Clustered-Minds Multiverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Contents xi
Multiple Equilibria as an Alternative Explanation
for Self-Fulfilling Prophecies?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
12 A Generalized Rosenthal Effect in Experimental Research
in the Social Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
A Macro-World Measurement Problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Examples of Experimenter Expectancy Effects
in the Social Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Experimenter-Expectancy Effects as Measurement Effects
in the Clustered-Minds Multiverse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Consequences for the Progress of Scientific Knowledge
in the Social Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
PART V CONCLUSIONS AND GENERAL PERSPECTIVES
13 Selected Consequences of the Clustered-Minds Multiverse
for Weltanschauung and Scientific Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
This Book Is One Possible Version of the Book, and Many
Others Exist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
The Clustered-Minds-Multiverse Worldview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Newtonian, Quasi-Newtonian and Multiverse Worldviews. . . . . . . . 220
What Has Been Learned for Free Will and Consciousness? . . . . . . 221
What Are the Consequences for Our Decision Making?. . . . . . . . . 224
Future Research: How the Clustered-Minds Multiverse
Changes Scientific Work and Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Radical Subjectivity and Scientific Progress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
A New Type of Psychophysical Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Other Challenging Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
References.... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 233