REVIEW OF Testing the Consciousness Causes Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay by Richard James Lucido.
This occurs because quantum physics presents reality as a perfectly determined wave function, أيّ, when translated into the concept of a particle, makes its exact position indeterminable.
The question is: how should we interpret all of this? What model of reality does quantum mechanics offer? There is no consensus — there are more than a dozen models of reality (ontologies, in philosophy) and interpretations of quantum mechanics. One such interpretation, which intrigued Einstein, Schrödinger, and the famous cat (though not all agreed), is defended by Von Neumann. It proposes that reality does not exist until it is perceived by consciousness.
Naturally, if we accept this interpretation, a materialist view of reality faces significant challenges. If reality requires observation to exist, philosophical idealism gains ground, and humans could be seen as a kind of Jedi with telekinetic powers.
This interpretation, known as Consciousness Causes Collapse (CCC), is the focus of the present article.
How can we experimentally validate whether consciousness can collapse a quantum state into a particular (macroscopic, ordinary) state without consciously observing it?
According to this study:
Triggering stimuli, derived directly from patterns in a local radioactive decay source, were projected onto a screen for a duration too brief to be consciously perceived. These triggering stimuli were immediately followed by the presentation of a symbol, to which participants were asked to respond quickly. According to the Consciousness Causes Collapse (CCC) interpretation of quantum mechanics, since the triggering stimuli had not yet been exposed to conscious observation, they should remain in a superposition state based on the radioactive decay from which they were derived. The hypothesis was that if the CCC interpretation were correct, a triggering stimulus presented in this way would not produce the standard effect on subsequent reaction times as it would in a control condition where observation had been consciously performed beforehand. This hypothesis was confirmed: the standard effect on reaction times was observed in the consciously observed condition, but not in the unobserved condition. These findings support the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics.
In this context, the superposition state means that the particle in question does not yet have a defined location but instead follows a wave function. In short: volunteers were subliminally and unconsciously exposed to a series of numbers, some resulting from a quantum state that had been consciously observed, and others that had not. Participants processed this information unconsciously, as is well established in psychology, such that the information was either defined or undefined. That is, they indicated whether a number was even or odd, which in turn was determined by uranium decay (as it emitted radiation), measured by a Geiger counter.
Results:
All priming stimuli in this study were determined by frequency patterns from a local radioactive decay source. These priming stimuli affected participants’ reaction times only if they had been previously consciously observed. In the observed condition, reaction times were significantly shorter for items paired with congruent primes than for those paired with incongruent primes. لكن, in the unobserved condition — where conscious observation was withheld — reaction times between items with congruent and incongruent primes were statistically equivalent This indicates that the wave functions determining the primes in the unobserved condition were still in a superposition state when participants responded to the stimulus items. If they had already collapsed into defined states, they would have had the same effect on reaction times as in the observed condition. This was not the case.
These results support the CCC interpretation, which holds that conscious observation — rather than interaction with a physical measuring device — causes wave function collapse. In other words, conscious observation determines reality. In a sense, this suggests that you and I are like “Jedis”… or, more accurately, this experiment aligns with idealist and dualist models of the world.
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