Name: Anonymous 2009-02-09 16:26
The material world is one system treated by the rules of quantum mechanics. There exist external observers which cannot be treated within quantum mechanics, namely human and animal minds, which perform measurements on the brain causing wave function collapse.
This attributes the process of wave function collapse directly, indirectly, or even partially to consciousness itself. Until the Hard problem of consciousness is solved, it is undefined what could or could not have consciousness. It could be that measuring devices might also turn out to be considered conscious by this definition.
Consciousness causes collapse can be seen as a proposed answer to the Wigner's friend thought experiment by asserting that collapse occurs at the first "conscious" observer.
Wigner believed that consciousness is necessary for the collapse process. There are several possible ways to explain the Wigner's thought experiment, some of which do not require consciousness to be different from physical processes, including Consciousness and Superposition and Wigner's friend in Many Worlds.
Recent study of quantum decoherence reduces the emphasis on the "macroscopic observer" originally introduced in the language of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory for most systems. Modern scientific discourse has evolved to try to quantify how quantum systems decohere due to their interactions with their surroundings. This provides a unified view which treats neighboring quantum systems, thermal baths and the measurement apparatus on the same footing. Although decoherence gives new insight on how quantum mechanics gives rise to the classical world in general, decoherence does not give a resolution to the philosophical aspects of the problem of measurement.
This attributes the process of wave function collapse directly, indirectly, or even partially to consciousness itself. Until the Hard problem of consciousness is solved, it is undefined what could or could not have consciousness. It could be that measuring devices might also turn out to be considered conscious by this definition.
Consciousness causes collapse can be seen as a proposed answer to the Wigner's friend thought experiment by asserting that collapse occurs at the first "conscious" observer.
Wigner believed that consciousness is necessary for the collapse process. There are several possible ways to explain the Wigner's thought experiment, some of which do not require consciousness to be different from physical processes, including Consciousness and Superposition and Wigner's friend in Many Worlds.
Recent study of quantum decoherence reduces the emphasis on the "macroscopic observer" originally introduced in the language of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory for most systems. Modern scientific discourse has evolved to try to quantify how quantum systems decohere due to their interactions with their surroundings. This provides a unified view which treats neighboring quantum systems, thermal baths and the measurement apparatus on the same footing. Although decoherence gives new insight on how quantum mechanics gives rise to the classical world in general, decoherence does not give a resolution to the philosophical aspects of the problem of measurement.