EXPANDED A QUANTUM THEORY OF THE MIND--BRAIN INTER

September5,1996LBL-28574EXPANDEDAQUANTUMTHEORYOFTHEMIND{BRAININTERFACEHenryP.StappTheoreticalPhysicsGroupPhysicsDivisionLawrenceBerkeleyLaboratory1CyclotronRoadBerkeley,California94720AbstractTheHeisenbergquantummechanicalconceptionofnatureisextendedandappliedtothebrain.Strictadherencetotheprincipleofparsimony,andtoquantumthinking,producesnaturally,onthebasisofanoverviewofbrainoperationcompatiblewiththeinformationprovidedbythebrainsciences,aunieddescriptionofthephysicalandmentalaspectsofnaturethatcanaccountinprincipleforthefullcontentoffelthumanexperience.InvitedPresentationtotheConference:ConsciousnesswithinScience,ColeHall,UniversityofCaliforniaatSanFrancisco,Feb.17{18,1990.ThisworkwassupportedbytheDirector,OceofEnergyResearch,OceofHighEnergyandNuclearPhysics,DivisionofHighEnergyPhysicsoftheU.S.DepartmentofEnergyunderContractDE-AC03-76SF00098.DisclaimerThisdocumentwaspreparedasanaccountofworksponsoredbytheUnitedStatesGov-ernment.NeithertheUnitedStatesGovernmentnoranyagencythereof,norTheRegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia,noranyoftheiremployees,makesanywarranty,expressorimplied,orassumesanylegalliabilityorresponsibilityfortheaccuracy,completeness,oruse-fulnessofanyinformation,apparatus,product,orprocessdisclosed,orrepresentsthatitsusewouldnotinfringeprivatelyownedrights.Referencehereintoanyspeciccommercialprod-uctsprocess,orservicebyitstradename,trademark,manufacturer,orotherwise,doesnotnecessarilyconstituteorimplyitsendorsement,recommendation,orfavoringbytheUnitedStatesGovernmentoranyagencythereof,orTheRegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia.TheviewsandopinionsofauthorsexpressedhereindonotnecessarilystateorreectthoseoftheUnitedStatesGovernmentoranyagencythereofofTheRegentsoftheUniversityofCaliforniaandshallnotbeusedforadvertisingorproductendorsementpurposes.LawrenceBerkeleyLaboratoryisanequalopportunityemployer.iiContents1.TheOriginoftheProblem:ClassicalMechanics.2.AQuantumOntology3.TheFunctioningoftheBrain:AnOverview4.IncorporationofQuantumMechanics5.BrainandConsciousness6.Qualia:TheExperientialorFeltQualityofActualEvents7.ComparisontoOtherTreatments8.RelatedPhilosophicalIssues9.Summary11.TheOriginoftheProblem:ClassicalMechanicsAdvancesinscienceoftenunifyconceptuallythingspreviouslythoughttobeunconnected.ThusNewtonianmechanicsuniedourunderstandingofstel-larandterrestialmotions,andMaxwell’stheoryuniedourunderstandingofelectro{magneticphenomenaandlight.Einstein’sspecialtheoryofrelativityuniedourconceptsofspaceandtime,andhisgeneraltheoryuniedourcon-ceptionsofspacetimeandgravity.Mythesishereisthattheintegrationofconsciousnessintosciencerequiresconsideringtogethertwooutstandingfunda-mentalproblemsincontemporaryscience,namelytheproblemoftheconnectionbetweenmindandbrain,andtheproblemofmeasurementinquantumtheory.Eachoftheseproblemsconcernstheinterfacebetweentwodomainsofphenom-enathatarecurrentlydescribedbyusingdierentconceptualsystems:mindandbrainaredescribedinpsychologicalandphysicalterms,respectively,whereasthemeasurementprobleminquantumtheoryistoreconciletheconceptsofclassicalphysicsthatareusedtodescribetheworldofvisibleobjectswiththeconceptsofquantumtheorythatareusedtodescribetheworldofatomicprocesses.Ineachcasetheproblemofconstructingacoherentoverarchingconceptualizationappearstobesointractablethatmanyscientistshavejudgedtheproblemtobeapseudoproblemnotsuitedtoscienticstudy.However,technologicalad-vancesarenowprovidingdatathatbearincreasinglyontheinterfacesbetweenthedomainsthathadheretoforebeenempiricallyseparate.Giventhesenewdata,andtheprospectofmoretocome,sciencecannowprotablytakeupthechallengeofprovidingaconceptualframeworkthatuniesthemental,physical,classical,andquantalaspectsofnature.WilliamJameshighlightedtheseeminglyintractablecharacterofthemind{brainproblemwiththefollowingtwoquotations:1)Supposeittohavebecomequiteclearthatashockinconscious-nessandamolecularmotionarethesubjectiveandobjectivefacesofthesamething;wecontinueutterlyincapableofunitingthetwosoastoconceivetherealityofwhichtheyarethetwofaces.(Spencer)andThepassagefromthephysicsofthebraintothecorrespondingfactsofconsciousnessisunthinkable.Grantedthatadenitethought2andadenitemolecularactioninthebrainoccursimultaneously;wedonotpossesstheintellectualorgan,norapparentlyanyrudimentoftheorgan,whichwouldallowustopass,byaprocessofreasoning,fromonetotheother.(Tyndall)IncommentingonthisissueJamesclearlyrecognizedthattheproblemwaswiththeconceptsofclassicalphysics.Referringtothescientistswhowouldonedayilluminatetheproblemhesaid:thenecessitiesofthecasewillmakethem\metaphysical.Mean-whilethebestwayinwhichwecanfacilitatetheiradventistoun-derstandhowgreatisthedarknessinwhichwegrope,andneverforgetthatthenatural{scienceassumptionswithwhichwestartedareprovisionalandrevisablethings.2)Jamesevidentlyforesaw,onthebasisofconsiderationsofthemind{brainprob-lem,theeventualdislodgementofclassicalmechanicsfromthepositionitheldduringhisday.Wenowknowthatclassicalmechanicsfailsattheatomiclevel:ithasbeensupersededbyquantummechanics.Thatclassicalmechanicsisnotcapable