Guest Author - Tara Sullivan

Even if infinite parallel worlds exist somewhere in the unseen universe, who’s to say that this solves the problem of the possible manifestation of a particle in one position or another? Decoherence, which is the interference of environmental factors, seems to account for the appearance of the breakdown of the wave function. Decoherence says that even air molecules can act as a sort of observer, essentially grounding the particle in this world. This makes one think of weather patterns which are in infinite state of change due to the interrelationship of environmental factors such as warm and cold fronts, ocean tides, etc. It seems that in the micro-world “quantum weather conditions” might account for the position a particle is measured in. Of course, this might be another way of saying that there are hidden variables which are unaccounted for, but as long as the macro-world and micro-world interact, couldn’t there be infinite variables which act as “observers”? This is what decoherence seems to postulate.

Decoherence also explains why the macro-world obeys familiar classical laws. In
the Scientific American article “100 Years of Quantum Mysteries,” it illustrates the effect of decoherence on superposition with the image of the quantum playing card. The quantum playing card, when balanced on an edge will fall into a superposition of both falling to the left and to the right simultaneously. So the question is why does the card prefer to either fall face up or face down, but not both, or some other whacky alternative? “The calculations showed that classical states such as face up and face down were precisely the ones that are
robust against decoherence. That is, interactions with the surrounding environment would leave face-up and face-down cards unharmed but would drive any superposition of up and down into classical face-up/face-down alternatives.” (Tegmark, Max, Wheeler, John Archibald p.72 ) So, decoherence seems to affect superposition, but leave classical decided states alone.

If molecules, photons, etc. could cause decoherence could something as immaterial as thought have causal influence in the micro-world, affecting which way the quantum card might fall? Could consciousness essentially thrust us into a parallel world, no doubt a very subtle one? Some proponents of the Copenhagen interpretation believe that quantum theory can explain how humans might have conscious control over brain states, and physical processes in the body. There seems to be no doubt that thought can control matter, otherwise how would one be able to move one’s body, make a choice about what one will eat, what is commonly thought of as free will. If thought had no causal influence on matter, wouldn’t we all be machines, mere automatons controlled by subtle and gross
physical forces beyond conscious control? If we are automatons is it possible that we have merely deluded ourselves into thinking that we make any conscious choices whatsoever?

Most people would reject that they are merely cogs in Newton’s mechanistic world-view. We do have choice, we do control our bodies, actions, and to a certain extent our thoughts and emotions (some better than others). We cannot say that we live autonomous existences. Everything which exists is inextricably linked and in relationship with each other. Some relationships are immediate and strong, others are remote and very weak, but I suppose it is like that movie in which everyone is related to Kevin Bacon within a matter of six degrees.
You can’t get around the inter-relatedness of the world.

That being said, perhaps conscious human observers, even conscious human thought can act as decoherence in quantum systems, affecting the presentation of the particle in our world. It seems this would especially be apparent in systems which are intimately related, such as the effect of one’s thoughts on one’s own brain or nervous system. Henry Stapp, in his article "Attention, Intention and Will in Quantum Physics" gives an example of how conscious thought changes behavior and physiology. "The psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz (1999) has described a clinically successful technique for treating patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The treatment is based on a program that trains the
patient to believe that his own {\it willful redirection}of his attention away from intense urges of a kind associated with pathological activity within circuitry of the basal ganglia, and toward adaptive functional behaviors, can, with sufficient persistent effort, systematically change both the intrusive, maladaptive, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, as well as the pathological brain activity associated with them. This treatment is in line with the quantum
mechanical understanding of mind/brain dynamics developed above, in which the
mental/experiential component of the causal structure enters brain dynamics via intentions that govern attentions that influence brain activity." Stapp believes in quantum activity as providing knowledge, or as inherently coded with information, and this may very well be true, but this example serves to only support the simple idea of how thought can have a causal influence on the brain.

If we confine ourselves to a merely mechanistic view of the brain, we condemn
ourselves to be automatons. By realizing that at a quantum level, mind can affect the world in which we experience is empowering and rings true. If we recognize that thoughts can act causally as a form of decoherence, which creates the appearance of the collapse of the wave function, not only can the idea of the observer based reality be retained, but we can realize the interaction between our inner life and the world outside. This idea does not go so far to
say that reality out there does not really exist, or that it doesn't exist without the observer, but it asserts a potential co-authorship of the micro-world, which will naturally have a ripple effect in the macro-world. If conscious will can control heart-rate and cognitive behavioral therapy can create chemical changes in the brain through changes in thought patterns, these
are occurring first and foremost where the subtle decoherence of thought affects where particles manifest in the one world of infinite possibilities in which we experience ourselves and our reality.


Bibiliography
Bell, J.S. 1987. Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Goswami, Amit. 1993. The Self Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the
Material World. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.
Herbert, Nick. 1985. Quantum Reality. Garden City: Anchor Press/Doubleday.
Norris, Christopher. 2000. Quantum Theory and the Flight from Realism. New York:
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Stapp, Henry P. "Attention, Intention and Will in Quantum Physics."
http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/quantum/JCS.htm.
Tegmark, Max. "Parallel Universes." Scientific American. 288, issue 5: 41-52.
Tegmark, Max, Wheeler, John Archibald. "100 Years of Quantum Mysteries." Scientific American. 284, issue 2: 68-75.
Zohar, Danah. 1990. The Quantum Self. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.