Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics
By: by Henry P. Stapp
Edition: Second edition.
Series: The Frontiers Collection; Frontiers collection
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Berlin, Heidelberg
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Number of pages: 297
ISBN-13: 9783662053713; 9783662053690
Subjects: Quantum theory; Science (General); Physics
Description: "Scientists other than quantum physicists often fail to comprehend the enormity of the conceptual change wrought by quantum theory in our basic conception of the nature of matter," writes Henry Stapp. Stapp is a leading quantum physicist who has given particularly careful thought to the implications of the theory that lies at the heart of modern physics. In this book, which contains several of his key papers as well as new material, he focuses on the problem of consciousness and explains how quantum mechanics allows causally effective conscious thought to be combined in a natural way with the physical brain made of neurons and atoms. The book is divided into four sections. The first consists of an extended introduction. Key foundational and somewhat more technical papers are included in the second part, together with a clear exposition of the "orthodox" interpretation of quantum mechanics. The third part addresses, in a non-technical fashion, the implications of the theory for some of the most profound questions that mankind has contemplated: How does the world come to be just what it is and not something else? How should humans view themselves in a quantum universe? What will be the impact on society of the revised scientific image of the nature of man? The final part contains a mathematical appendix for the specialist and a glossary of important terms and ideas for the interested layman. This new edition has been updated and extended to address recent debates about consciousness.
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Table of contents: title: From the contents: ... and then a Miracle Occurs; title: A Quantum Theory of Conciousness; title: The Copenhagen Interpretation; title: Quantum Propensities and the Brain-Mind Interface; title: Mind, Matter, and Pauli; title: A Quantum Conception of Man; title: Neuroscience, Atomic Physics, and the Human Person; title: Mathematical Appendix, Glossary, and Index.