Related papers: Libertarian free will and quantum indeterminism
Quantum theory is a tremendously successful physical theory, but nevertheless suffers from two serious problems: the measurement problem and the problem of interpretational underdetermination. The latter, however, is largely overlooked as a…
It is argued that both the "Free Will Theorem" (FWT) and the "relativistic GRW model with Flash Ontology" (rGRWf) hiddenly assume the result of the before-before experiment, and for this reason both FWT and rGRWf imply free will in the…
We present models in which the indeterministic feature of Quantum Mechanics is represented in the form of definite physical mechanisms. Our way is completely different from so-called hidden parameter models, namely, we start from a certain…
In this article we propose an approach that models the truth behavior of cognitive entities (i.e. sets of connected propositions) by taking into account in a very explicit way the possible influence of the cognitive person (the one that…
The interpretation of the meaning of Quantum Mechanics has faced controversy since its inception. Bell's inequalities are a touchstone in this controversy. Their observed violation demonstrates that at least one of the hypotheses involved…
The search for a scientific theory of consciousness should result in theories that are falsifiable. However, here we show that falsification is especially problematic for theories of consciousness. We formally describe the standard…
Experiments in cognitive science and decision theory show that the ways in which people combine concepts and make decisions cannot be described by classical logic and probability theory. This has serious implications for applied disciplines…
In this paper, epistemology and ontology of quantum states are discussed based on a completely new way of founding quantum theory. The fundamental notions are conceptual variables in the mind of an observer or in the joint minds of a group…
Causal reasoning is essential to science, yet quantum theory challenges it. Quantum correlations violating Bell inequalities defy satisfactory causal explanations within the framework of classical causal models. What is more, a theory…
In recent years, quantum mechanics has been actively used in areas outside of physics, such as psychology, sociology, theory of decision-making, game theory, and others. In particular, quantum mechanics is used to explain the paradoxes…
The hard problem in consciousness is the problem of understanding how physical processes in the brain could give rise to subjective conscious experience. In this paper, I suggest that in order to understand the relationship between…
We introduce the quantum theoretical formulation to determine a posteriori, if existing, the quantum wave functions and to estimate the quantum interference effects of mental states. Such quantum features are actually found in the case of…
A recent paper by two of us and co-workers, based on an extended Wigner's friend scenario, demonstrated that certain empirical correlations predicted by quantum theory (QT) violate inequalities derived from a set of metaphysical assumptions…
The no-supervenience theorem limits the capacity of physicalist theories to provide a comprehensive account of human consciousness. The proof of the theorem is difficult to formalize because it relies on both alethic and epistemic notions…
In honor of Alan Turing's hundredth birthday, I unwisely set out some thoughts about one of Turing's obsessions throughout his life, the question of physics and free will. I focus relatively narrowly on a notion that I call "Knightian…
One would not think that thought experiments could matter to nature, for they are a humble human device. Yet quantum mechanics very naturally frames thought experiments (as distinct from precisely defining what exists). They exemplify the…
Recent experiments (gedanken or otherwise) and theorems in quantum mechanics (QM), such as new iterations on Wigner's friend and delayed choice, have led many people to claim that QM is not compatible with determinate and intersubjectively…
In this paper we concentrate on the nature of the liar paradox as a cognitive entity; a consistently testable configuration of properties. We elaborate further on a quantum mechanical model [Aerts, Broekaert, Smets 1999] that has been…
Wave functions live on configuration space. Schrodinger called this entanglement. The linearity of the Schrodinger equation prevents the wave function from representing reality. If the equation were non-linear (e.g., reduction models) the…
A variant of the von Neumann-Wigner Interpretation is proposed. It does not make use of the familiar language of wave functions and observers. Instead it pictures the state of the physical world as a vector in a Fock space and, therefore…