Quantum weirdness (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, November 30, 2013, 12:12 (3800 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: That our existence is a mystery can hardly be disputed. How does that make life after death incomparably more probable? 
DAVID: Read more carefully. the word after more is IMprobable in his essay.-Read more carefully. Henry wrote: "Which would be easier to believe in [...]: life after death, or your own existence? I do think the latter is incomparably more improbable." He thinks the latter (our own existence) is incomparably more improbable, in which case life after death is incomparably more probable. I trust you will now share my scepticism.-dhw: The answers may be obscurely rooted in the fact that Professor Henry is "convinced that the universe does not exist at all (except as mind)." -DAVID: His is one of the more extreme views of the role of conscousness, but there are a small but well-thoughtout group that adhere to this view. Remember the zeno effect.-This is named after Zeno's paradox, which states that, "since an arrow in flight is not seen to move during any single instant, it cannot possibly be moving at all." (Wikipedia) You have to decide which level you want to think (and live) on. If you believe that Zeno's paradox and the quantum Zeno effect are more real than your own everyday experiences, stand in front of the arrow.-DAVID: I think he is overemphasizing the true reality of our lived-in reality. What it is based on is quantum mechanics. As Einstein asked, if there is so much space in each atom, why is the table solid? But he knows his conscious mind is real. An important point. -I think he is UNDERestimating the true reality of our lived-in reality. We all "know" that our conscious mind is real, just as we all "know" that our body and our surroundings are real and the table is solid. Even if you argue that this "knowledge" is subjective, I see no difference between the two "knowledges", and I can't see what is so important.-HENRY: But, you must now decide whether their minds exist, as yours unquestionably does. Physics cannot assist you in this critical decision. Your stark choices are solipsism, or a leap of faith. 
DAVID: I believe he is using the approach of the solipsist to make his point more forceble.-Most of us do not need a leap of faith at all, because the reality of other people's minds and bodies and of the world around us are confirmed virtually every waking moment of our lives. Only academics like Henry seem to have difficulty equating their experience with reality ... but I guess it's not a bad way to earn a living.

DAVID: I do this to you to remind you that First Cause created our reality from a quicksand of quantum mechanics and it works, but it also requires consciousness to work, which tells us that the eventual advent of consciousness was built into the singularity before the Big Bang banged!-I think you can find far less woolly means to remind me of your beliefs.