Abstract
It is argued that an adequate scientific treatment of biological systems requires the use of an ontological interpretation of quantum mechanics, and that the propensity interpretation proposed by Popper and others, when applied to the brain, leads to a natural representation of conscious process within the quantum-mechanical description of brain process. Thus quantum mechanics, unlike classical mechanics, has a natural place for consciousness and, moreover, in a sense to be discussed, even requires it.
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References
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Invited Contribution to the volume ofFoundations of Physics honoring Sir Karl Popper.
This work was supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics, Division of High Energy Physics of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC03-76SF00098.
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Stapp, H.P. Quantum propensities and the brain-mind connection. Found Phys 21, 1451–1477 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01889652
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01889652