Sunday Special - Consciousness, Quanta, and Meaning

 There’s no shortage of theories trying to explain the mysteries of quantum mechanics, and consciousness often gets dragged into the mix. Some even claim it has a special role in state vector reduction—those quirky “quantum jumps.” Roger Penrose is one such advocate, but he’s not alone. When you ask these consciousness enthusiasts if physics behaves differently on the far side of the Moon (where no one’s watching) or if atoms over there just stop jumping, the answers get...let’s say, "evasive."

Who's Consciousness Is It Anyway?

Now, I'm not here to knock anyone’s ideas. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. But, honestly, this view feels a bit like trying to peer through a foggy window. I mean, whose consciousness are we talking about here? When John Wheeler, another big name in the "consciousness club," was pushed on this point, he eventually said it was “consciousness in general.” Sounds poetic, right? The problem is, no one knows what “consciousness in general” actually means.

And let’s be real—science knows more about quarks and gluons than it does about human consciousness. So, no, I don’t think consciousness is irrelevant, but I do think it’s being overhyped in quantum mechanics.

Is the Universe Watching Itself?

Measurements and observations in the universe happen, whether we’re looking or not. The cosmos doesn’t wait for us to wake up in the morning to start its business. Atoms are constantly observing other atoms, cats are keeping tabs on mice, and things happen regardless of our awareness.

This brings me to my simple, no-nonsense perspective: consciousness doesn’t create reality, it just interprets it. Consciousness, in my view, is there to give meaning to what we observe. The more complex the consciousness, the deeper and richer the meaning.

The meaning of it all?

The Meaning of Consciousness

Here’s the kicker: the higher your level of consciousness, the more meaning you can extract from an experience. A cat sees the world differently than bacteria, and we humans have the potential to see meaning on levels a cat can’t even dream of. This ability to find meaning ties into free will—we see meaning in something, and it allows us to make conscious decisions, changing ourselves and reality. It’s like designing your own narrative rather than just playing out some mechanical script.

So, no, I don’t believe in consciousness collapsing wave functions. But that doesn’t mean it’s useless—it’s just not responsible for playing referee in quantum mechanics.

Gravity vs. Consciousness: The Final Showdown

Now, if consciousness isn’t out there reducing wave packets, then what is? Gravity, maybe? Some theories suggest gravity might be responsible for collapsing quantum states. But here’s the twist—what if wave function collapse actually explains gravity? It’s one of those chicken-and-egg scenarios, except the chicken is quantum mechanics and the egg is the entire fabric of spacetime.

I don’t claim to know the definitive answer to what reduces wave packets, but I do know how to describe the process. And that’s what matters. A simple, quantitative description that satisfies both quantum theory and the observations of a humble peasant (equipped with the finest metaphorical pitchfork, of course).

P.S. 21-10-24 12:32 In reply to the comment by Igor Bayak, here is my "random walk" simulation:

Single quantum system under continuous observation?

Quantum theory is strange. It is often acclaimed as the most successful of all theories in physics, but at the same time it leads to never ending debates about its meaning and its ontology. Philosophers like to draw our attention to the fact that not all is "quantum", that there are also tables and chairs. Wave-particle duality can be described mathematically, but are we completely satisfied with this description? Evidently not all physicists are happy. Louis de Broglie, one of the founders of quantum theory, in his later years returned to the beginnings and tried to find a better solution in non-linear theories. CERN physicist  John Bell was unhappy, not only just unhappy, he was literally angry at the status of quantum theory and the misleading terminology that is being used by his fellow physicists in order to hide the real problems. 

How Nature does what it does? Is it a reasonable question at all? If it is, then how can we go about it?

Physics builds models of reality. Some of these models pretend to be fundamental, some other just phenomenological.  Here is one such model. There is quantum wave, there are tables and chairs (red detectors, there are events -- when tables are overthrown, when red becomes white. And there are wave collapses. It all can be modelled mathematically. Probably the model is not realistic, yet it does its job. The wave is moving, it overthrows tables and chairs, and it leaves a real and visible track -- like those that can be seen in nuclear emulsions or cloud chambers. Each such even is accompanied by collapse of the wave and its rejuvenation. The process is governed by partly deterministic and partly random laws -- well known in this branch of the mathematical theory of random processes that deals with earthquakes and financial markets.

The animation presents one such history: a sequence of collapses and the track that we interpret as that of a passing "particle", for instance an electron.  A different run of "the same" experiment would produce somewhat different track. During the animation the wave (only its probability density is displayed on this video)  travels across the field of somewhat randomly distributed "particle detectors". Detectors fire using a (tamed) random algorithm . Those that have fired change their color from red to white and become non-active. All the data, including sensitivity of the detectors are on the atomic scale. We notice that there is a certain angle between the direction of the wave (directly towards the camera) and the track that is left. This is not unexpected, owing to the random nature of the whole phenomenon.  The coupling between the wave and the detectors that is being modeled here does not include energy and/or momentum transfers between the wave and the detectors. Only "information-theoretical  exchange", "I tell you where I am, and you will collapse me in exchange",  is taken into account.   

Tools used in this animation: parallel implementation of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation with complex potentials (CUDA), with Fast Fourier transform, OpenGL, piecewise-deterministic algorithm of EEQT.

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P.S. 22-10-24 9:18 This morning received from the Author a complimentary copy of his new book:

Paranormal Science

First Edition

This edition copyright

©2021 by Mark McWilliams

ISBN 978-0-578-25759-4

This edition printed by

48 Hr Books

2249 14th St. SW

Akron, OH 44314:

From the Preface:

"Topological GeometroDynamics (TGD) realizes Einstein's dream that Gravity can explain everything in our Universe including a reverse Arrow-of-Time, Experienced(subjective)-Time vs. Geometric(relativistic)-Time, a theory of Consciousness (and Life-after-Death), and Quantum-Biology. Dark Matter plays an important role as does Dark Energy.

Luminiferous aether (or ether) was the postulated medium for the propagation of light in the 19th Century. It was invoked to explain the ability of the apparently wave-based light to propagate through empty space (a vacuum), something that waves should not be able to do. The assumption of a spatial plenum of luminiferous aether rather than a spatial vacuum provided the theoretical medium that was required by wave theories of light. Then along came Einstein who proved that the aether was not necessary to explain light's propagation. However, (at that time) he did not say that the aether did not exist.

Similarly, this book does not dismiss personal religion including "miracles" and the power of prayer etc. Life-after-Death is a function of Einstein's geometry (albeit a complex geometry defined by tensor calculus) and independent of Religion. When the Universe and Life were created, these are the Rules which govern them. In other words, TGD-physics proposes how the Paranormal works in this Universe."