By Tara Maclsaac
Excerpt from
theepochtimes.com
Henry P. Stapp is a theoretical physicist at the University of
California–Berkeley who worked with some of the founding fathers of
quantum mechanics. He does not seek to prove that the soul exists, but
he does say that the existence of the soul fits within the laws of
physics.
He does not seek to prove that the soul exists, but
he does say that the existence of the soul fits within the laws of
physics.
It is not true to say belief in the soul is unscientific, according
to Stapp. Here the word “soul” refers to a personality independent of
the brain or the rest of the human body that can survive beyond death.
In his paper, “Compatibility of Contemporary Physical Theory With
Personality Survival,” he wrote: “Strong doubts about personality
survival based solely on the belief that postmortem survival is
incompatible with the laws of physics are unfounded.”
He works with the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics—more
or less the interpretation used by some of the founders of quantum
mechanics, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Even Bohr and Heisenberg
had some disagreements on how quantum mechanics works, and
understandings of the theory since that time have also been diverse.
Stapp’s paper on the Copenhagen interpretation has been influential. It
was written in the 1970s and Heisenberg wrote an appendix for it.
Stapp noted of his own concepts: “There has been no hint in my
previous descriptions (or conception) of this orthodox quantum mechanics
of any notion of personality survival.”
Why Quantum Theory Could Hint at Life After Death
Stapp explains that the founders of quantum theory required
scientists to essentially cut the world into two parts. Above the cut,
classical mathematics could describe the physical processes empirically
experienced. Below the cut, quantum mathematics describes a realm “which
does not entail complete physical determinism.”
Of this realm below the cut, Stapp wrote: “One generally finds that
the evolved state of the system below the cut cannot be matched to any
conceivable classical description of the properties visible to
observers.”
So how do scientists observe the invisible? They choose particular
properties of the quantum system and set up apparatus to view their
effects on the physical processes “above the cut.”
The key is the experimenter’s choice. When working with the quantum
system, the observer’s choice has been shown to physically impact what
manifests and can be observed above the cut.
Stapp cited Bohr’s analogy for this interaction between a scientist
and his experiment results: “[It’s like] a blind man with a cane: when
the cane is held loosely, the boundary between the person and the
external world is the divide between hand and cane; but when held
tightly the cane becomes part of the probing self: the person feels that
he himself extends to the tip of the cane.”
The physical and mental are connected in a dynamic way. In terms of
the relationship between mind and brain, it seems the observer can hold
in place a chosen brain activity that would otherwise be fleeting. This
is a choice similar to the choice a scientist makes when deciding which
properties of the quantum system to study.
The quantum explanation of how the mind and brain can be separate or
different, yet connected by the laws of physics “is a welcome
revelation,” wrote Stapp. “It solves a problem that has plagued both
science and philosophy for centuries—the imagined science-mandated need
either to equate mind with brain, or to make the brain dynamically
independent of the mind.”
Source Article from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AscensionEarth2012/~3/ybjrni3KCdo/a-physicists-explanation-of-why-soul.html
A Physicist’s Explanation of Why the Soul May Exist
No comments:
Post a Comment