To
elaborate on the notion that consciousness
is a quantum phenomenon,
it would be necessary to suggest how the internal observer collapses
the wave function presented by perception to produce mind
and thought. Assuming that there is an internal observer – a ghost
in the machine
that
operates
within the context of the organic network of the brain
(our wetware)
– what is the quantum description of reality that might work?
One
hallmark of human awareness and mind is our ability to anticipate the
future as well as recall a past, an elaboration of a basic
mammalian ability
to track external dangers and opportunities. Our species evolved to
dominate the earth as none other had ever done based on
this ability to imagine what has not yet happened and ponder over it
before deciding how to act to achieve a goal or avoid a problem. The
basis for doing this successfully is an ability to call upon memories
of our individual and collective
past
experiences
which forms our available body of knowledge. We see patterns in the
present, place them within a framework of patterns experienced in the
past and
project them into the future.
We do this within the internal space of our mind.
But
how do we know the next thing to think or say? We experience thought
as a self-generating process. When we want to speak,
it comes forth as a river emerging from a dark cave into the bright
sunlight. Our
thoughts stream
in the same way. Obviously,
something is going on behind
the scenes of
which we are
generally
unaware. Much of our mental processes remain unconscious. But how
exactly does that work? What is going on in that cave, what are
those unconscious processes?
The
uncollapsed wave function of any quantum system exists without time
or particularity. Particles are waves and remain entangled until
measured,
i.e., observed. Until
they are, they exist in a probabilistic manner everywhere they might
be. Recent
experiments
using weak
measurement
suggest that future observations – things that have not yet
happened – can influence the present. Weak measurement somehow
seems to tap into quantum reality without collapsing the wave
function. It
offers a way to get a sense of some values of the wave function
without actually forcing the collapse. Making or not a subsequent
measurement which does collapse the wave function shows up –
statistically – in that previous measurement.
Our
internal observer interacts
with the quantum wave function continuously presented by the organic
processes of our brain within the space of the unconscious mind. The
mind
apparently holds
some 15-20 seconds of time within its active reach including a 2-3
second “moment” that is now.
As long as the wave function of mind remains uncollapsed, the
observer may weakly measure it, including what we have not yet
experienced. Bringing together what has not yet occurred but may be
anticipated, current information about internal and external states
and information of the past, the observer collapses the wave function
– from moment to moment – and that particular thought,
expression, or action emerges into consciousness. Our consciousness
doesn't actually lurk in the dark lining things up but exists within
the
collapsing
wave function, like a flame above a quantum candle, as both observer
and agent.
There
may well be a locale
within the brain where the link between the material basis of mind
and the “ghost” is made. It would have to be a small area, or at
least contain spaces tiny enough for quantum systems to exist
uncollapsed. But the inputs must span the brain and the neural
network itself may
well
work as a system – or system of systems – operating through a
brain-wide quantum
entanglement.
