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Volume 11: Number 1: Article 6
Consciousness, Causality, and Quantum Physics
David Pratt, Nicolaas Tulpstraat 37, 2563 XK The Hague, The Netherlands
Quantum theory is open to different interpretations, and this paper
reviews some of the points of contention. The standard interpretation
of quantum physics assumes that the quantum world is characterized by
absolute indeterminism and that quantum systems exist objectively only
when they are being measured or observed. David Bohm's ontological interpretation
of quantum theory rejects both these assumptions. Bohm's theory that
quantum events are party determined by subtler forces operating at deeper
levels of reality ties in with John Eccles' theory that our minds exist
outside the material world and interact with our brains at the quantum
level. Paranormal phenomena indicate that our minds can communicate
with other minds and affect distant physical systems by nonordinary
means. Whether such phenomena can be adequately explained in terms of
quantum effects and the quantum vacuum or whether they involve super-physical
forces and states of matter as yet unknown to science is still an open
question, and one which merits further experimental study.
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