191 research outputs found
The 18-fold way
I shall consider each of the 18 claims made by Mohrhoff, and explain, in each
case, why I take the path opposite to the one by which he seeks to remove the
effects of our thoughts on the activities of our quantum mechanically described
brains.Comment: To be published in Foundations of Physics. This is a reply to an
article (quant-ph/0105097) by Ulrich Mohrhof
Philosophy of mind and the problem of free will in the light of quantum mechanics
Defects occasioned by the advent of quantum mechanics are described in detail
of recent arguments by John Searle and by Jaegwon Kim pertaining to the
question of the complete reducibility to the physical of the apparent capacity
of a person's conscious thoughts to affect the behaviour of that person's
physically described brain.Comment: 29 Page
Values and the Quantum Conception of Man
Classical mechanics is based upon a mechanical picture of nature that is
fundamentally incorrect. It has been replaced at the basic level by a radically
different theory: quantum mechanics. This change entails an enormous shift in
our basic conception of nature, one that can profoundly alter the scientific
image of man himself. Self-image is the foundation of values, and the
replacement of the mechanistic self-image derived from classical mechanics by
one concordant with quantum mechanics may provide the foundation of a moral
order better suited to our times, a self-image that endows human life with
meaning, responsibility, and a deeper linkage to nature as a whole.Comment: 10 pages, latexed, math_macros.tex, full postscript available from
http://theor1.lbl.gov/www/theorygroup/papers/37315.p
Bell's Theorem Without Hidden Variables
Experiments motivated by Bell's theorem have led some physicists to conclude
that quantum theory is nonlocal. However, the theoretical basis for such claims
is usually taken to be Bell's Theorem, which shows only that if certain
predictions of quantum theory are correct, and a strong hidden-variable
assumption is valid, then a certain locality condition must fail. This locality
condition expresses the idea that what an experimenter freely chooses to
measure in one spacetime region can have no effect of any kind in a second
region situated spacelike relative to the first. The experimental results
conform closely to the predictions of quantum theory in such cases, but the
most reasonable conclusion to draw is not that locality fails, but rather that
the hidden-variable assumption is false. For this assumption conflicts with the
quantum precept that unperformed experiments have no outcomes. The present
paper deduces the failure of this locality condition directly from the precepts
of quantum theory themselves, in a way that generates no inconsistency or any
conflict with the predictions of relativistic quantum field theory.Comment: This paper is a much simplified, yet still rigorous, version of
quant-ph/0010047. The descriptive material is almost all new, and I believe
very clear, but the rigorous formal argument, now relegated to Appendices, is
the same as before. I consider it to be a new pape
The Hard Problem: A Quantum Approach
Contents:
1. Introduction: Philosophical Setting
2. Quantum Model of the Mind/Brain
3. Person and Self
4. Meeting Baars's Criteria for Consciousness
5. Qualia
6. Free-WillComment: 28 pages, no figures, latexed, uses math_macros.tex that can be found
on Archive, this paper was submitted in 5/95 and this is a revised version
full postscript available from
http://theor1.lbl.gov/www/theorygroup/papers/37163rev.p
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