The Problem of Conscious Observation in Quantum Mechanical Description

TL;DR

This paper explores the implications of quantum nonlocality and decoherence for understanding conscious observation, proposing a many-minds interpretation that formalizes measurement interactions without classical concepts.

Contribution

It introduces a formal description of measurement and consciousness in quantum mechanics using neural states and decoherence, avoiding classical assumptions.

Findings

Supports a many-minds interpretation of quantum mechanics

Formalizes measurement interactions with neural states

Eliminates need for classical concepts in quantum description

Abstract

Epistemological consequences of quantum nonlocality (entanglement) are discussed under the assumption of a universally valid Schr\"odinger equation in the absence of hidden variables. This leads inevitably to a {\it many-minds interpretation}. The recent foundation of quasi-classical neural states in the brain (based on environmental decoherence) permits in principle a formal description of the whole chain of measurement interactions, including the {\it behavior} of conscious observers, without introducing any intermediate classical concepts (for macroscopic "pointer states") or "observables" (for microscopic particle positions and the like) --- thus consistently formalizing Einstein's {\it ganzer langer Weg} from the observed to the observer in quantum mechanical terms.