Cosmic Consciousness or Quantum Brain: What creates reality?

|Difficulty level: Medium|

The much-celebrated Schrodinger’s cat paradox has three interpretations. The second interpretation takes us to the strangest idea of the physics realm. Quantum consciousness which gives the same physical results as Copenhagen interpretation, suggests that it creates reality and is the fundamental entity in the universe. While Quantum brain suggests that the answers to reality are hidden within the quantum phenomena.

What if I tell you that the house you are looking at existed in all the possible states like burned, decayed, fallen until you observed it. What if the late physicist Albert Einstein invited you and asked you, “Does the moon exist because a mouse looks at it”? These questions or statements will make you realise that it has feet of clay and are difficult to be answered by the rules we apply in everyday life.

Schrodinger’s cat

Schrodinger’s much-celebrated cat problem [1], which states that a cat is neither dead nor alive but is in a netherworld; between life and death, the sum of the wave describing a dead cat with the wave of an alive cat. In other words, until the observation is made, the cat’s state is completely unknown and therefore, the cat is considered to be both alive and dead at the same time [2].

The crux of the problem has reverberated in the halls of physics for decades, but how do you resolve this paradox? There are three interpretations; the first one is the Copenhagen interpretation proposed by Heisenberg and Born, now quoted in the textbooks.

But the fun lies in alternate interpretations of this problem which take us to the strangest realm of physics: Cosmic Consciousness and Multiple universes.

Copenhagen interpretation says, to determine the state of the cat, you must open the box which is closed for the outside world and make a measurement. Measurement resolves two waves into a single wave, so it is known if the cat is dead or meowing.

The boss, Einstein who believed that the universe exists in a definite state independent of any human observation hated this and coined “God doesn’t play dice in the world”, stating that nature is predictable even if you are not looking at it. Max Born, one of the founding fathers of the quantum theory then refuted by saying “don’t tell God what to do”, oops!!

Quantum theory which lies at the other side of the wall of our everyday common sense view introduces this idea from the back door and states that until you look at the house it can exist in all the possible states you can think of. Let’s get into the world of strange ideas now.

Cosmic Consciousness 

The second resolution to the cat problem was proposed by Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner. Wigner said that only a conscious person can make an observation on the cat. But who is to say that this person is alive?

You cannot separate the observer from the observed, so maybe this person is also dead and alive. So, the wavefunction includes both observer and cat. To make sure the observer is alive, you need a second observer, let’s call him Wigner’s friend to watch the first observer, who collapses all previous wavefunctions. But who knows if the second observer, Wigner’s friend is dead or alive. The second observer has to be included in a still-larger wave function to make sure he is alive.

So, the wavefunction now includes both the cat and observers (yes yes ! Wigner’s friend also). Oh God!! will this chain keep on continuing indefinitely. You might need infinite friends to make sure the wave function collapses. To make sure each observer is alive, you need some form of Cosmic Consciousness.

This eternal consciousness watches over us and collapses our wavefunction for us to say that we are alive.

This sounds bizarre, right? But it yields the same physical results as the Copenhagen interpretation.

This suggests that consciousness is the fundamental entity in the universe. The material world may come and go, but Consciousness remains the defining element, creating reality.

The Quantum Brain

Does the brain use quantum physics? Isn’t it a legitimate question? It is proposed by a few people that the brain is a quantum device and no standard classical model of computing can explain quantum phenomenons that are dominated inside neurons, allowing the room for free will. Quantum effects inside the brain may give rise to our consciousness and hence reality.

But we are not going to accept this idea as plainly as it might seem, we demand proofs not theories hanging in mid-air.

This debate stops at the reverse-engineered brain made of transistors. The reverse-engineered brain no matter how complex will still be predictable and deterministic as it is a product of transistors. As of now, this is theoretically identical to a living brain; then, you can argue the human brain is also deterministic. While the system under quantum is inherently unpredictable, this causes contradictions.

So, a reverse-engineered brain is the hope to find the answer and put an end to the question.

If it turns out that the reverse-engineered brain is unable to reproduce human behaviour, then it will be accepted that quantum is at play at all the levels of nature, from the brain to the evolution of the universe.

Let’s end it with this amazing thought experiment. Imagine earth 4.5 billion years ago, when it was born. Now imagine you have created an identical copy of earth, and let it evolve. Would it still be here as we are now on this different earth after 4.5 billion years?  

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