Consciousness and the Quantum

TL;DR

The paper proposes a framework called Sensible Quantum Mechanics that links consciousness to quantum states through awareness operators, offering a testable, deterministic model where perceptions are epiphenomena without free will.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum framework for consciousness that is testable and differs from traditional many-minds interpretations by focusing on perceptions as the fundamental units.

Findings

Perceptions have measurable frequencies based on quantum expectation values.

The framework is deterministic with no free will or indeterminism.

It distinguishes perceptions from other interpretations by not postulating relations between perceptions.

Abstract

Sensible Quantum Mechanics or Mindless Sensationalism is a framework for relating consciousness to a quantum universe. It states that each conscious perception has a measure that is given by the expectation value of a corresponding quantum "awareness operator" in a fixed quantum state of the universe. The measures can be interpreted as frequency-type probabilities for a large set of perceptions that all actually exist with varying degrees of reality, so detailed theories within this framework are testable. The measures are not propensities for potentialities to be actualized, so there is nothing indeterministic in this framework, and no free will in the incompatibilistic sense. As conscious perceptions are determined by the awareness operators and the quantum state, they are epiphenomena. No fundamental relation is postulated between different perceptions (each being the entirety of a single conscious experience and thus not in direct contact with any other), so SQM or MS, a variant of Everett's "many-worlds" framework, is a "many-perceptions" framework but not a "many-minds" framework.