Mindful Universe (eBook)

Author of over three hundred research papers on the mathematical,physical, and philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics, anda Springer book "Mind, matter, and quantum mechanics". Workedpersonally with W. Heisenberg, W. Pauli, and J.A. Wheeler on theseissues. Invited author of entries about quantum theories consciousnessin several currently about to appear encyclopedias. Invited plenaryspeaker at numerous international conferences.   For book cover: Henry Stapp has spent his entire career working in frontier areas of theoretical physics. After completing his thesis work under Nobel Laureates Emilio Segré and Owen Chamberlain, he joined Wolfgang Pauli to tackle foundational issues. After Pauli's early death, he turned to von Neumann's ideas about the mathematical foundations of quantum theory. The essay 'Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics', that developed out of this work eventually evolved into Stapp's classic book bearing the same title. His deep interest in the quantum measurement problem led him to pursue extensive work pertaining to the influence of our conscious thoughts on physical processes occurring in our brains. The understandings achieved in this work have been described in many technical articles and now, in more accessible prose, in the present book.

Preface 7
Contents 9
1 Science, Consciousness and Human Values 12
2 Human Knowledge as the Foundation of Science 22
3 Actions, Knowledge, and Information 27
3.1 The Anti-Newtonian Revolution 27
3.2 The World of Actions 29
3.3 Intentional Actions and Experienced Feedbacks 33
3.4 Cloudlike Forms 35
3.5 Simple Harmonic Oscillators 35
3.6 The Double-Slit Experiment 36
4 Nerve Terminals and the Need to Use Quantum Theory 38
4.1 Nerve Terminals 39
5 Templates for Action 42
6 The Physical Effectiveness of Conscious Will and the Quantum Zeno Effect 44
6.1 The Quantum Zeno Effect 44
6.2 William James’s Theory of Volition 46
7 Support from Contemporary Psychology 49
8 Application to Neuropsychology 54
9 Roger Penrose’s Theory and Quantum Decoherence 58
10 Non-Orthodox Versions of Quantum Theory and the Need for Process 1 61
10.1 The Many-Worlds (or Many-Minds) Approach and Decoherence 63
10.2 Bohm’s Pilot-Wave Model 68
10.3 Spontaneous-Reduction Models 69
11 The Basis Problem in Many- Worlds Theories 70
11.1 Connection Between Classical Physics and Quantum Physics 70
11.2 Decoherence and Discreteness in Many- Minds/ Worlds Theories 75
12 Despised Dualism 83
12.1 Historical Background 83
12.2 A Flawed Argument 85
12.3 Squaring with Contemporary Neuroscience 85
13 Whiteheadian Quantum Ontology 89
13.1 Some Key Elements of Whitehead’s Process Ontology 94
13.2 From von Neumann NRQT to Tomonaga– Schwinger RQFT 98
13.3 Similarities Between Whitehead’s Ontology and Ontologically Construed RQFT 99
13.4 The Transition from ‘Potentiality’ to ‘Actuality’ in Quantum Mechanics 99
13.5 Compatibility with Einstein’s (Special) Theory of Relativity 99
13.6 The Psychophysical Building Blocks of Reality 100
14 Interview 103
15 Consciousness and the Anthropic Questions 122
16 Impact of Quantum Mechanics on Human Values 141
17 Conclusions 146
A Gazzaniga’s The Ethical Brain 147
B Von Neumann: Knowledge, Information, and Entropy 152
C Wigner’s Friend and Consciousness in Quantum Theory 159
D Orthodox Interpretation and the Mind– Brain Connection 162
E Locality in Physics 166
F Einstein Locality and Spooky Action at a Distance 169
G Nonlocality in the Quantum World 176
References 182
Index 190