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Quantum physics experiment proves human consciousness influences the behavior of subatomic particles

Annikki

Senior Member
Messages
146
I used to be skeptical of the idea that there was anything else beyond matter. It was easy to think as someone influenced by science. I believed, incorrectly, that all science had ever found was a world of meaningless matter, and that to think a non-material reality or spiritual reality existed was silly.

I did notice things which ran contrary to that idea. I discounted these observations, because I believed incorrectly science proved human beings are nothing but matter. There are still scientists that insist human consciousness an illusion merely created by a material, physical brain.

These scientists tend to not be quantum physicists.

This 1992 documentary about tribal cultures mentioned a discovery in physics which suggested something entirely different. The narrator mentioned scientists found electrons and photons change their behavior based on whether or not they're observed by a human being. The scientific term for this is "the observer effect. The film mentioned this to suggest cultures aren't simply ignorant in their spiritual beliefs and to recommend we study these cultures.

This phenomenon of an observer affecting subatomic particles' behavior was discovered in "the double slit experiment."
This is a BBC article about the double slit experiment

The strange link between the human mind and quantum physics
"I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem."

The American physicist Richard Feynman said this about the notorious puzzles and paradoxes of quantum mechanics, the theory physicists use to describe the tiniest objects in the Universe. But he might as well have been talking about the equally knotty problem of consciousness.

Some scientists think we already understand what consciousness is, or that it is a mere illusion. But many others feel we have not grasped where consciousness comes from at all.

The perennial puzzle of consciousness has even led some researchers to invoke quantum physics to explain it. That notion has always been met with skepticism, which is not surprising: it does not sound wise to explain one mystery with another. But such ideas are not obviously absurd, and neither are they arbitrary.

For one thing, the mind seemed, to the great discomfort of physicists, to force its way into early quantum theory. What's more, quantum computers are predicted to be capable of accomplishing things ordinary computers cannot, which reminds us of how our brains can achieve things that are still beyond artificial intelligence. "Quantum consciousness" is widely derided as mystical woo, but it just will not go away.

Quantum mechanics is the best theory we have for describing the world at the nuts-and-bolts level of atoms and subatomic particles. Perhaps the most renowned of its mysteries is the fact that the outcome of a quantum experiment can change depending on whether or not we choose to measure some property of the particles involved.

When this "observer effect" was first noticed by the early pioneers of quantum theory, they were deeply troubled. It seemed to undermine the basic assumption behind all science: that there is an objective world out there, irrespective of us. If the way the world behaves depends on how – or if – we look at it, what can "reality" really mean?

Some of those researchers felt forced to conclude that objectivity was an illusion, and that consciousness has to be allowed an active role in quantum theory. To others, that did not make sense. Surely, Albert Einstein once complained, the Moon does not exist only when we look at it!
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170215-the-strange-link-between-the-human-mind-and-quantum-physics
This video does a better job of describing the double slit experiment and the observer effect:

These findings have influenced some top physicists to seriously consider the idea that subatomic particles create an illusion of reality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NkFemtrRZs

Last but least, scientists think that quantum particle behavior might influence the workings of the human body, & the human brain. I wonder if energy metabolism is at all influenced by quanta, like electrons and if this type of research could help CFS patients.
"Organisms Might be Quantum Machines" by the BBC
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160715-organisms-might-be-quantum-machines

"Quantum Entanglement Holds DNA Together, Say Physicists"
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/419590/quantum-entanglement-holds-dna-together-say-physicists/

"Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems" by Nature

Quantum coherence in microtubules: A neural basis for emergent consciousness?
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/imp/jcs/1994/00000001/00000001/art00008
 

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,377
Fascinating stuff! I watched the first video and it is truly amazing information.

I'm intrigued by Multi-verses....the notion there are actually some infinite number of universes.

In some other universe, we are in bodies that aren't sick.

So the double slit quantum experiment also further lends support to the multiverses theory...(Wikipedia says).

Would have loved to have been there for this moment...1952:

"In 1952 Erwin Schrödinger gave a lecture in Dublin in which at one point he jocularly warned his audience that what he was about to say might "seem lunatic". He went on to assert that what the equation that won him a Nobel prize seems to be describing is several different histories, they are "not alternatives but all really happen simultaneously". This is the earliest known reference to the many-worlds.[15][16]" Wikipedia- many-worlds theory
 

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,377
The narrator mentioned scientists found electrons and photons change their behavior based on whether or not they're observed by a human being.

Super excited to watch those videos about Tribal Cultures..... They all look super fascinating. And perhaps some advice for us to feel better is in fact, lurking there.
 

Strawberry

Senior Member
Messages
2,109
Location
Seattle, WA USA
This reminded me of a science and metaphysics project that my sister in law did with her kids. They took two mason jars and filled with ?rice? and stored both in a cupboard side by side so in the exact same environment. One jar had "ugly" written on it, and the other jar had "nice" written on it. Every day they would take the "ugly" jar out and yell at it and say nasty things to it, then replace it in the cupboard. Then they would take the "nice" jar out and say kind and positive things to it, then replace it in the cupboard next to the ugly jar.

After a month (maybe less) the rice (or what ever it was) was starting to turn black in the ugly jar, while the ?rice? in the nice jar looked fine.

I've always wanted to try that, but yelling at something daily would REALLY wipe me out!
 

ScottTriGuy

Stop the harm. Start the research and treatment.
Messages
1,402
Location
Toronto, Canada
You may also be interested in the concept of Biocentrism by Robert Lanza: "life creates the universe instead of the other way around"

Or, without consciousness, the universe would not exist.

Fascinating stuff - here's Lanza talking about Biocentrism:

 
Messages
65
I read that they tried that with plants years ago, and the ones that listened to lovely relaxing music did much better than the ones they played wild or sad music too.
 

ScottTriGuy

Stop the harm. Start the research and treatment.
Messages
1,402
Location
Toronto, Canada
I stumbled on Robert Lanza over a decade ago (I guess when his book was published) and have been intrigued by his notion ever since.

There are a couple of more videos with Lanza, and some podcasts. Iirc, he had a neglectful / abusive childhood yet as a young teenager managed to work with BF Skinner!
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,858
I used to enjoying reading popular science books on quantum mechanics, it was one of my favorite subjects. But since getting ME/CFS 14 years ago, I find brain fog unfortunately prevents me from properly appreciating all the logic and arguments.

The notion of human conscious observation being the cause of the quantum wave function collapse (the collapse which makes what we call a particle appear) was proposed in the 1930s, and is called the von Neumann–Wigner interpretation.

But there are lots of other interpretations of what is really going on during observation/measurement of a quantum system, and the quantum wave function collapse and particle appearance that occurs when these systems are observed/measured.

Some of these interpretations are really exotic, such as the completely shocking many worlds interpretation, which posits each time an observation/measurement is made, the world branches off into multiple parallel universes, with a duplicate copy of the observing person placed in each of these parallel universes!
 
Messages
57
Location
Italy
I found this theory very interesting and amazing. I believe in something like this, though different ... Have you ever heard of entanglement?
I truly believe that everyone of us is bound to the people he loves ... entanglement is like an infinite umbilical cord, that defies space and time.
All my atoms and all your atoms are entangled, so we can’t be considered as two different people, but as a single living being, one system.
That’s why, when you cry, I am sad too: your pain is my pain, your scar is my scar, I tasted thy lips on my skin.
But on the other side ... when you are happy I am happy too, when you smile I smile, when you rise from the ground, I rise too.
Every step you take is a conquest for me.
Our hearts, souls will never be divided.
That’s what I believe ... and if it sounds mad, Quantum Mechanics will never be able to prove I am untrue. So, my theory is not a complete failure, and who knows? Maybe we are all entangled to each other, we are all a single, perfect person made of bonds.