Sekret Machines: Gods, Man, and War by Tom DeLonge

Author:Tom DeLonge [DeLonge, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07WJLQ4HS
Publisher: To The Stars
Published: 2019-10-29T07:00:00+00:00

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Many scientists reject—or openly ridicule—the notion of “quantum consciousness.” They believe that the “spooky” nature of quantum physics (including especially non-locality, superposition, and the like) is sufficiently misunderstood by the layperson to be associated with other “spooky” phenomena, such as mental telepathy, ghosts, and UFOs. Laypersons who wish to use quantum effects to explain ESP or remote viewing or other paranormal phenomena are considered ignorant, gullible, or just, well, irritating.

It is true that many enthusiasts of the idea of quantum consciousness do not have the training in classical physics—much less quantum physics—to be able to explain and defend their position on the paranormal. There is, however, a level of arrogance in the abrupt dismissal of their claims by scientists that only creates more conflict and increases the level of misunderstanding and ignorance.

Critics of quantum consciousness theories will point to some obvious examples as containing misunderstandings of how physics actually works and how physicists measure, study, and test quantum effects. There is tremendous resistance on the part of physicists where extrapolating from individual test results—such as in the famous “double slit” experiment—to imagining their implications for real-world applications is concerned. Their argument runs that quantum effects occur only at the sub-atomic, quantum level (the Planck scale) and while the laws of quantum physics seem weird and spooky they are not applicable on the macro level, where classical physics applies. In other words, once we are dealing with atoms and molecules, the quantum effects are no longer observed. At the macro level we deal with the kind of classical physics with which we are accustomed in the everyday world: a world where travel or communication faster than the speed of light is impossible, where an object cannot be in more than one place at the same time, and where the cat in the box with the plutonium is always dead.

This was especially true of the insistence by some scientists that quantum effects occur in the human brain and might be responsible for consciousness. “Nonsense,” was the usual response. “The brain is warm and wet and noisy; quantum effects can only occur in extremely cold and dry conditions.” When Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff proposed their “Orch OR” theory of quantum consciousness in the late 1990s, they were shot down because of the assumption that quantum mechanics requires cold and dry conditions.

And that was pretty much the state of affairs until 2014. At that time, new research began appearing in peer-reviewed journals that reported quantum effects in photosynthesis as well as in the brains of migratory birds. Penrose and Hameroff felt vindicated, and began defending their discoveries with greater enthusiasm.

We won’t go into all the proofs and arguments for the various theories—for which we assume the reader will be grateful—but we will look at why quantum physics provides what may be the best approach toward a theory of consciousness, both from the purely philosophical point of view and that of physics itself. It’s possible that “quantum consciousness” may satisfy the requirements of both the mystic and the rationalist.

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