Quantum Theory and Free Will: How Mental Intentions Translate into Bodily Actions

144 Pages·2017·1.67 MB·English

by  Henry P. Stapp (auth.)

Henry P. Stapp
Quantum Theory
and Free Will
How Mental Intentions
Translate into
Bodily Actions
Quantum Theory and Free Will
Henry P. Stapp
Quantum Theory and Free
Will
How Mental Intentions Translate into Bodily
Actions
123
Henry P.Stapp
Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory
University of California
Berkeley, CA
USA
ISBN978-3-319-58300-6 ISBN978-3-319-58301-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58301-3
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017940360
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Contents
1 The Origins of the Quantum Conception of Man.. .... ..... .... 1
The Classical Predecessor to Contemporary Physics.. .... ..... .... 2
Nothing goes Faster Than Light? .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 2
Descartes’ Dualism.. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 3
Classical Determinism.... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 3
Philosophical Torment.... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 4
The Copenhagen Shift to a Pragmatic Stance ... .... .... ..... .... 5
Virtues of Realism .. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 5
A Condition on the Scope of a Science-Based Theory of Reality. .... 6
Von Neumann’s “Orthodox” Formulation of Quantum Mechanics .... 6
The Action of Mind on Matter .. .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 11
Appearances are Deceiving: Classical Appearances
Versus Quantum Realities. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 12
Potentia... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 14
Summary.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 15
2 Waves, Particles, and Minds... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 17
Particles and Waves . .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 17
Science and Philosophy... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 18
Heisenberg’s Seminal 1925 Discovery .... .... .... .... ..... .... 20
The Standard Copenhagen-Von Neumann Approach.. .... ..... .... 25
3 The Measuring Process.. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 29
Minds, Brains, and Meaning.... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 29
Utility of Quantum Smearing ... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 29
Einstein’s First Example.. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 29
The Movable Heisenberg Cut... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 31
4 Quantum Neuroscience.. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 35
What’s the Matter with Matter? . .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 36
Problems with Materialism ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 36
v
vi Contents
Einstein’s Second Example..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 37
Nature’s Random Choices. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 38
Relativistic Version (RQFT) .... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 39
The Role and Importance of Free Will .... .... .... .... ..... .... 39
5 The Physical Effectiveness of Conscious Intent.... .... ..... .... 41
A Brief Review. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 41
The Quantum Zeno Effect. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 42
Templates for Action. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 42
6 Reality and Spooky Action at a Distance. .... .... .... ..... .... 45
Spooky Action at a Distance.... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 45
The Quantum Dynamical Origin of “Spooky Action”. .... ..... .... 46
Evasion via Pragmatism .. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 46
The EPR Paper. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 47
Bohr’s Response to EPR.. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 47
Bell’s Theorem and the Nature of Reality.. .... .... .... ..... .... 49
7 Backward-in-Time Causation?. .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 53
Delayed Choice Experiments.... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 53
The “Bohmian” Approach to Explaining ‘Causal Implications’... .... 54
8 Actual Past and Historical Past .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 57
9 The Libet “Free Will” Experiments. .... .... .... .... ..... .... 61
Introduction to Libet. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 62
Libet in a Quantum Mechanical Framework.... .... .... ..... .... 62
The Libet Causal Anomalies.... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 63
Libet Conclusion.... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 64
10 Questions and Answers About Minds ... .... .... .... ..... .... 65
11 The Fundamentally Mental Character of Reality.. .... ..... .... 71
12 Paranormal Phenomena . ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 75
13 Conclusions ... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 79
Supplemental Readings... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 81
Appendix A: Proof that Information Must Sometimes be Transferred
Faster Than Light.... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 83
Appendix B: Graphical Representation of the Argument ... ..... .... 93
Appendix C: Reply to Sam Harris on Free Will... .... .... ..... .... 97
Appendix D: The Paranormal and the Principle
of Sufficient Reason .. .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 99
Contents vii
Appendix E: The Quantum Conception of Man... .... .... ..... .... 117
Appendix F: Mind, Brain, and Neuroscience . .... .... .... ..... .... 121
Appendix G: Transcending Newton’s Legacy. .... .... .... ..... .... 127
References.... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 141
Prologue
A revolution in our scientific understanding of the physical world occurred during
the twentieth century. That upheaval revised our idea of science itself, and thrust
our conscious thoughts into the dynamical process that determines our physical
future. During the preceding two centuries, from the time of Isaac Newton, our
consciousexperienceshadbeenbelievedbymostscientiststobepassivewitnesses
of a clock-like physical universe consisting primarily of tiny atomic particles and
light, that evolves with total disregard of our mental aspects. Our conscious
thoughts had, for two hundred years, been exiled from science’s understanding
of the workings of nature. But during the first quarter of the twentieth century that
earlier “classical” theory was found by scientists tobe unable to account either for
theobservedpropertiesoflight,orfortheplethoraofnewempiricaldatapertaining
tothedynamicalpropertiesofactualatomssuchasHydrogenandHelium.Abetter
theory was needed!
In 1925 Werner Heisenberg, the principal creator of quantum mechanics, con-
cludedfromananalysisofthedataofatomicphysicsthatthebasicpreceptsofthe
prevailing classical theory were profoundly wrong, and that the root of the diffi-
culties lay in Newton’s ascribing to his conception of atoms certainproperties that
empirically observedatoms do notpossess.The first ofthese purelyfictional ideas
is that each atom has at each instant of time, a tiny well-defined location in 3D
space. The second is that the evolving physical properties are completely deter-
mined by prior physical properties alone, with no input from our conscious
thoughts.Theselatter“mental”realitieswereassumed,intheclassicaltheory,tobe
completely determined by the physically described properties of the associated
brainsandnervoussystems.Hencetheydonot,inthattheory,constituteextrafree
variables. But in quantum mechanics the evolution of the physically described
aspects is not fully determined by physically described properties alone: our con-
scious experiences enter irreducibly into the dynamics!
ThebasicprinciplethatguidedHeisenbergtothesuccessfulnewtheorywasthat
it should be based on properties that we can choose to measure. These choices on
the part of conscious agents are “free choices”—from amongst the many possi-
bilitiesallowedbythetheory—ofwhichmeasurementtoactuallyperform.Herethe
ix
x Prologue
adjective “free” means that the choices are not determined by purely “physical”
laws alone. They are determined in part by irreducible mental aspects of
psycho-physical observers. The observer’s “free choices” are thus non-physical
inputs into the physical dynamics! Our minds are not mere side effects of material
physical processes: Our Minds Matter!
Heisenberg’s study of the data of atomic physics convinced him that the
empirical data of atomic physics cannot be reconciled with the naïve realism of
classical mechanics, which considers a person’s perception of an external physical
property to be a mere causally inert by-product of the observational process of
creating a brain/body representation of that property. According to that classical
scenario, nature goes to the great length of creating a seemingly new kind of stuff,
mental reality, which, however, has no physical function or effect. Such an
arrangement seems unnatural.
Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, assigns to mental reality a function not
performed by the physical properties, namely the property of providing an avenue
for our human values to enter into the evolution of psycho-physical reality, and
hence make our lives meaningful.
Quantummechanicsaccountswithfantasticaccuracyfortheempiricaldataboth
old and new. The core difference between the two theories is that in the earlier
classicaltheoryallcausaleffectsintheworldofmatterarereducibletotheactionof
matteruponmatter,whereasinthenewtheoryourconsciousintentionsandmental
efforts play an essential and irreducible causal role in the determination of the
evolvingmaterialpropertiesofthephysicallydescribedworld.Thusthenewtheory
elevates our acts of conscious observation from causally impotent witnesses of a
flow of physical events determined by material processes alone to irreducible
mental inputs into the determination of the future of an evolving psycho-physical
universe. In this orthodox quantum mechanical understanding of the world our
minds matter!
An adequate basicscientific theoryofrealitymust explainall oftheregularities
ofhumanexperience.Thattotalityincludesnotonlydatapertainingtothemotions
ofplanetsandterrestrialobjects,andtheevidencefromatomicphysics,butalsothe
evidence concerning the observed effects in our everyday lives of our conscious
intentional efforts upon our subsequent bodily behavior. These ubiquitous facts of
everydaylifeexhibitastrongpositivecorrelationbetweenone’sconsciousintention
to produce a desired bodily action—such as the raising one’s arm or the moving
one’sfinger—andafollow-upbodilymotionoftheintendedkind.Thusmymental
efforttoraisemyarmisnormallyquicklyfollowed,ifIfocusmyintentionuponit,
by the rising of my arm. An appreciation of this correlation between subjective
mental intent and subsequent physically described reality is far more important to
thenormallivingofone’slifethantheperiodicmotionsofsometinypin-pointsof
lightinthenightsky.Whatmatters mosttousiswhatweareabletodoaboutour
physical future, and how we are able to do it. In this connection, the
everyday-experience-basedbeliefinthecausalpowerofaperson’smentaleffortto
influencethesubsequentphysicallydescribedrealityisrationallybuttressedbythe
fact that contemporary (i.e., quantum) science supports that intuition, rather than
Prologue xi
diminishing us by claiming, as did classical physics, that the experienced causal
effectiveness in the physical world of our mental intentions is “the illusion of
conscious will”.
Apersonalbeliefinthepowerofone’smentalintentionstoaffectone’sphysical
future is the rational foundation of our lives. Our cognizance of this causal effec-
tivenessofourthoughtsunderliesourrationaleffortfulengagementwiththeworld,
and, consequently, also the structures of our social institutions; of our moral
imperatives; of our legal systems; of our notions of Justice; and of our conscious
efforts to improve the lives of ourselves and those we care about. In a causally
mindless mechanical world of the kind entailed by the materialist precepts of
classical physics this power of our minds is denied, and that denial eliminates any
possibility of a rationally coherent conception of the meaningfulness of one’s life.
For how can your life be meaningful if you are naught but a mechanical puppet
every action of which was completely fixed by a purely mechanical process
pre-determined already at the birth of the universe?
The inclusion of the quantum element of random chance can rescue the mean-
ingfulness of one’s life. For these choices are not written in stone, or fixed by
mechanical determinism. Hence, by being fundamentally indeterminate, or “ran-
dom”,theycanbebecomebiasedbyvalues,whichcantherebyinfluencethecourse
of physical events!
The philosophical difficulties ensuing from Newton’s presumption about light
and the atomic character of matter are eliminated from orthodox quantum physics
by the replacement of the Newtonian classical dynamics by a quantum dynamics
thatelevatesourmindsfrompassivebystanderstoactiveparticipantsinthecreation
of our psycho-physical future. This radical revision of the role of our minds in the
determination of our future arises directly from the elimination, from the material
world, of all particles of the kind imagined to exist by Isaac Newton, and their
replacement by the quantum idea of “atomic particles”. These latter entities are
mathematically described elements of a new kind that are intrinsically tied to our
conscious experiences. Replacing the purely fictional Newtonian particles by the
experience-related atoms of quantum physics converts the classically conceived
world that hasno rational place for causally efficaciousconsciousexperiences into
a quantum world of “potentialities” for certain experiences to occur. It converts a
known-to-be-empirically-false materialist conception of the world into a rationally
coherent quantum conception of reality in which our causally efficacious minds
play an essential role in the determination of our common psycho-physical future.
According to this quantum mechanical understanding of reality, the very same
laws that were originally introduced to account for the empirical findings in the
domainof atomicphysicsexplain also how a person’s mental intentions can affect
thatperson’sbodilyactionsinthewaythatheorshementallyintends.Theadvance
from seventeenth-century materialistic science to twenty-first-century probabilistic
quantum physics thus converts our minds from slaves of our brains to causal
partners with our brains.
Ageneralrecognitionofthisprofoundtransformationofscience’simageofman
from mechanical automaton to “free” (from material coercion) agent constitutes a