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Originally Posted by David Bailey  Probably like you, I learned Quantum Mechanics (many years ago) from text books that tended to concentrate on the maths and soft peddle the little matter of what the equations meant, but even from these it was clear that the idea that it is consciousness that collapses the wave function goes right back to the foundations of the subject.
David |
Heisenberg is quite clear in "Physics and Philosophy" that he does not believe that the concious mind influences the atoms that are observed. The "collapse" of the wave function is not a description of an objective change in the particle but merely the observers knowledge of it.
Likewise Bohr states in Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge:
"It is certainly not possible for the observer to influence the events which may appear under the conditions he has arranged"
The Copenhagen Interpretation is not equivalent to the idea that conciousness collapses the wavefunction that is so attractive to new age kooks.
Quantum physics does not provide a secret backdoor for mind stuff to sneak in. Measurements are made with electrons, photons etc and not with mind stuff.
I really fail to see what Stapp is hoping to achieve with his ideas about the Quantum Zeno effect. His target audience are not physicists. His treatment just seems to add another level of obfuscation to something that is already abused beyong any meaning.