Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics (The Frontiers Collection)

Rating:
Summary: Quantum Physics and Consciousness
Review: Though there is a fair amount of redundancy in this collection of papers originally published from the late 1960s to about 1990, I found the redundancy useful in coming to grips with the novel interpretations posited by Stapp. His primary thesis -- stunning in its simplicity -- is that consciousness can be usefully construed as the collapse of a superposition of brain states. Unlike the more mystical folks writing on quantum physics and consciousness, Stapp provides a number of highly technical examples of exactly how this process might work neurophysiologically. Essentially, his ideas are an explicit working-out of Heisenberg's ontology joined with William James' concepts. This brilliant and difficult book well rewards the effort necessary to master its ideas. It is, I believe, the most sophisticated attempt yet to explain consciousness in quantum mechanical terms, far superior to more naive dualist attempts such as those by Eccles and Popper.