The Mind, The brain, and The Quantum Mechanics
The Mind, The Brain, and The Quantum Mechanics
IntroductionHistoryBrainMindClassicalApproachQuantumApproachQuantumPhysics
IntroductionImportance of Brain studies
The issues of Mind or ConsciousnessFree willUnity of consciousness
The Amazing BrainHistory
2000 B.C.
500 B.C.400 B.C.Egyptians considered the brain to be worthless. Alcmaeon favored the head over the heart.Hippocrates took a similar view as Alcmaeon.
350 B.C.The Amazing BrainHistory2nd cent.Aristotle believed the brain is designed to cool blood.Galen was the first to speculate that particular functions are carried out in specific parts of the brain.
The Amazing BrainHistory17th cent.
Thomas Williss studies became the first scientific investigation of the brain and the nervous system.18th cent.
Galvani and Volta showed that electricity could activate nerve and muscles.
The Amazing BrainHistorySantiago Ramon y Cajal examined nerve cells under a microscope.19th cent.20th cent.Emil du-bois Reymond:Nerves and muscles generate electrical impulses.
The Amazing BrainNeurons
The Amazing BrainNeuronsInsects neurons are more complicated!
Cajal: connectionist view.
The Amazing BrainNeurons
The Amazing BrainNeurons
The MindIs the mind physical or something else?What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?
The MindClass of TheoryName of TheoryPhysical UniverseCausal DirectionMental UniverseMonismIdealismNoneNo causalityMindPhysicalismBodyNo causality
NoneDualismClassical DualismBodyMindParallelismBody
No causalityMind
EpiphenomenalismBody
Mind
InteractionismBody
Mind
IntroductionHistoryBrainMindClassicalApproachQuantumApproachQuantumPhysics
16Classical approachWorldview of classical physicsClassical brainWhat is consciousness?Unsolved problems
In classical physics events are deterministic.
17 Worldview of classical physics
18 Worldview of classical physicsChaos:Edward Lorenz (1917-2008)The Butterfly Effect
Unpredictable Pluto
Deterministic Chaos
19Classical Brain
InputOutput
20Classical BrainWe are automatons.
Consciousness is an illusion.
21 What is consciousness?
Consciousness is emergent.
22 What is consciousness?
Unsolved problem: Unity of Consciousness23
IntroductionHistoryBrainMindClassicalApproachQuantumApproachQuantumPhysics
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
25
Treatment of OCDcognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)Jeffrey M. Schwartz
Mindfullness26Henry P. Stapp
The birth of Quantum Mechanics19 October, 1900Max Planck introduced quanta of light.
27
WeirdAnyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it. -Neils Bohr
I am now convinced that theoretical physics is actual philosophy. -Max Born
The double slit experiment is the heart of quantum mechanics. Richard Feynman
28
Double slit experiment
29
More double slit experiment
30
And still more double slit experimentElectronsIonsBuckyballs
31
Heisenbergs uncertainty principle
32
33Fuzzy stateMeasurement principle
Superposition
34
35Interpretations of quantum mechanics
How quantum mechanics informs our understanding of nature:The Copenhagen interpretationMany worldsVon Neumann...
Goodbye classical physicsObserverJohn Wheeler, 1978, theoreticalAlain Aspect, 2009, experimental and Verified!
No phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon. John A. Wheeler
Physical reality what isOur knowledge what is knowable36
Von Neumann interpretation (the orthodox interpretation)Process IActualization of statesProcess IISchrodinger equation37
IntroductionHistoryBrainMindClassicalApproachQuantumApproachQuantumPhysics
The quantum brain
39
Agent: MindMind carries out process IUnity of consciousness40
41What is mind for gods sake?It doesnt matter.
We can only know what is knowable.Erwin Schrodingers view on the knowledge limitation problem:
This is a marvel than which only one is greater; one that, if intimately connected with it, yet lies on a different plane. I mean the fact that wepossess the power of acquiring considerable knowledge about it. this knowledge may advance to little short of a complete understanding of the first marvel. The second may be well beyond human understanding.
Free willQuantum Zeno effectState ARepeated measurementFreeze42
State AState BSchrodingerequation
43Free willAttention must be paid.
Binocular rivalry via quantum Zeno effect
CriticsWeakness of will
Quantum mechanical difficulties44
ConclusionClassical physicsVs.Consciousness 45
ReferencesMichael S. Sweeny, Brain, The Complete mindJay Friedenberg, Gordon Silverman, Cognitive scienceJeffrey M. Schwartz, The Mind and The BrainJeffrey M. Schwartz, Henry P. Stapp, QUANTUM PHYSICS IN NEUROSCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY: A NEW MODEL WITH RESPECT TO MIND/BRAIN INTERACTIONDavid J. R. Bourget, Quantum Leaps in Philosophy of MindNewScientist , April 6-12, 2013Scientific American Mind , May-June, 2012, p 22-27Henry P. Stapp, The Quantum-Classical and Mind-Brain Linkages: The Quantum Zeno Effect in Binocular Rivalry46
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