A Collapse of wave function and consciousness

[edmund cavendish]

TL;DR Summary

Penrose and Hameroff: quantum process in microtubules. In the variety of attempts to solve Chalmers' Hard Problem how viable is the quantum option? Could superpositions be a form of consciousness: in so far as the resolution of possibilities into something definite is a form of consciousness?

Does quantum theory provide a viable explanation of the nature of consciousness? Could every thought/ action be a resolution of superpositions?

 

[.Scott]

"The nature of consciousness"? That's ambiguous - but, No, not the nature of consciousness as most would interpret it.
But quantum super-positioning is the only mechanism in Physics for holding a non-trivial amount of information in a single state - and most people would claim that their experience of "consciousness" includes that ability.

So, as far as Chalmer's Hard Problem" is concerned, it divides the question - isolating the "hard" part to unexplained (and likely unexplainable) Physics while leaving the rest as a kind of biology engineering problem.

From the OP: "Could every thought/ action be a resolution of superpositions?"
This gets into the "engineering" part. Penrose and Hameroff described the consciousness process as occurring across neurons via the microtubules that you mentioned. They also seemed to buy into the notion that people are of one mind. I suggest that we consist of many such quantum "circuits", each attempting to find a high-scoring "plan", but only one such plan-inventor gets to write to our story at a time and the "plan" is further censored by classical circuitry before being implemented. I'm also not on board with those microtubules.

At this point, the main purpose of trying to work out how consciousness works and what mechanisms could support it is to give those working with live brains (mostly animals brains, I hope) a notion of what to look for and where to look for it.

 

[PeterDonis]

Moderator's note: Thread moved to the QM interpretations subforum.

 

[PeterDonis]

Penrose and Hameroff: quantum process in microtubules.

This is really a separate question from the one you're asking in this thread. If you want to discuss the Penrose-Hameroff proposal, which is documented in the peer-reviewed literature, please start a separate thread referencing the appropriate papers as a basis for discussion.

Does quantum theory provide a viable explanation of the nature of consciousness? Could every thought/ action be a resolution of superpositions?

There is an interpretation of QM that basically says that consciousness causes the collapse of the wave function. I don't think it's a very popular interpretation, but it is one that has appeared in the literature.

 

[.Scott]

There is an interpretation of QM that basically says that consciousness causes the collapse of the wave function. I don't think it's a very popular interpretation, but it is one that has appeared in the literature.

I doubt this is what the OP was asking about.

The OP's summary mentions "Chalmers' Hard Problem". Chalmer himself sets this "hard problem" apart from the remainder of the consciousness discussion - comparing it to "electric charge" and other basic elements of Physics that require no further explanation.

When I discuss consciousness, I use the terms "consciousness" and "human consciousness" - hoping to make a clear distinction between the "basic element of Physics" and the engineering aspects of our neural machinery.

 

[PeterDonis]

the "basic element of Physics"

But we don't know that consciousness is a "basic element of Physics". Chalmers might think it is (although at different times he says different things that appear contradictory, so it's not at all clear what he actually believes), but that doesn't make it true. Chalmers certainly hasn't offered any actual physical model of how such a thing would work.

Penrose and Hameroff at least offered some kind of model, but as I said in my previous post, if the OP wants to discuss that, it needs to be done in a new thread that references a specific paper by them and asks questions about it.

 

[PeterDonis]

I doubt this is what the OP was asking about.

The OP refers to:

Could superpositions be a form of consciousness: in so far as the resolution of possibilities into something definite is a form of consciousness?

Could every thought/ action be a resolution of superpositions?

Those are ways of describing the "consciousness causes collapse" interpretation of QM. The OP might not have realized that, which is why I pointed it out.

If the OP wants to discuss some other proposal, we need a reference.