The Dead-Alive Physicist experiment: a case-study disproving the hypothesis that consciousness causes the wave-function collapse in the quantum measurement process

TL;DR

This paper presents a thought experiment called 'Dead-Alive Physicist' to empirically challenge the hypothesis that consciousness causes wave-function collapse, arguing that consciousness is not necessary for quantum measurement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel variation of Schrödinger's cat experiment involving a human observer to disprove the necessity of consciousness in quantum measurement.

Findings

Disproves the hypothesis that consciousness causes wave-function collapse

Supports alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics that do not require consciousness

Clarifies the relationship between observers and quantum objects

Abstract

This paper aims to falsify the hypothesis that the observer's consciousness is necessary for quantum measurement. To achieve our target, we propose a variation of the Schroedinger's cat thought experiment called "DAP", short for "Dead-Alive Physicist", in which a human being replaces the cat. This strategy enables us to logically disprove the consistency of the above hypothesis and to oblige its supporters either to be trapped in solipsism or to rely on an alternative interpretation of quantum mechanics in which the role of the conscious observer has to be reviewed. Our analysis hence provides support to clarify the relationship between the observer the objects of her/his experimental observation; this and a few other implications are discussed in the fourth section and in the conclusions.