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Title: The Physics of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind and the Meaning of Life by Evan Harris, Phd Walker, Evan Harris Walker ISBN: 0738204366 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: December, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09
Rating: 4
Summary: Quantum proof for consciousness, free will and God
Comment: The subtitle of Walker's exploration is perhaps better than the title: The Quantum Mind and the Meaning of Life. Unlike some of the other postings here this reviewer cannot gush uncritically about The Physics of Consciousness. It begins awkwardly, it ambles and lurches along for some time, and when it does hit it's stride with science it careens between disciplines with intoxicated gusto, rather than surgical precision. But in the end it's worth the ride. It is an important book as it postulates a testable hypothesis about consciousness, free will and whatever uber-reality may (or may not) underlie ALL THAT IS. (It is a modern re-statement of Thales' theorem that "all is water" --in this case "all is consciousness/will.")
To get through this awkward tangle requires some patience and more than a little familiarity with quantum physics and neuroscience. A healthy prior exposure to cosmology, evolution, and epistomology is also useful. But with that background in place, Walker's thesis is nothing short of extraordinary to contemplate. The author's exploitation of a personal tragedy from his young adulthood weaves a personal thread into this tapestry. Some might complain about this intrusion, and it does complicate the development. But it also lends a deep (if idiosyncratic) humanity that this reader eventually found oddly satisfying.
Walker goes as far with the philosophy of reality as any Western scientific thinker has been willing to go. It's the most contemporary general proof for an ultimate consciousness, a Platonic "first cause," this reader has ever enjoyed. And it's good enough to merit serious attention. The Physics of Consciousness deserves a place alongside recent explorations such as The Moral Animal (R. Wright) and The Fifth Miracle (P. Davies) as serious contemplations for students of Big Ideas. Just be prepared to be patient with it. And brush up on your quantum mechanics.
Rating: 3
Summary: Mixed Blessings
Comment: I really felt I should only give this book two stars based on an objective view of its presumptions, assumptions, and hopeful speculations disguised as objective inquiry. However, Walker's tale is strangely moving, and not just because of the way he interweaves his memory of the death of his first love when she was but 16 years old. Walker means this quest; he needs it. Despite his denials, it seemed obvious to me that he began with presumptions of deity and a unity of spirit beyond time. When he expresses that sense, that intuition, his writing almost waxes poetic. I wanted to be offended, but instead I was moved. However, when he delved into the details of quantum mechanics I sometimes found myself quite lost. His brief exposition & dismissal of David Bohm's quantum interpretation was not recognizable to me. He showed no awareness of Bohm's holographic implicant order (which results in an ontology of creative immanence rather than Walker's preferred transcendence). I am aware of the EPR Paradox & Bell's Theorem as well as the Alain Aspect nonlocality experiments (and others, more recently) that prove that divided photons or electrons are still ' against all standard physics ' somehow one entity, no matter how far apart we judge them to be. Yet, Walker's explanation and his diagrams completely muddied up my whole understanding. (It's probably just me.) And it is on the proving of this theorem (which he interprets as proving absolute nonlocality) that his whole case for the existence of a transcendent God and eternal love seems to rest. He goes to the unadmitted consequences of the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum physics ' that all the particles of matter, all solid reality, and therefore all the universe is the result of the "observer effect" (aka the "measurement problem"). Just as wave collapse occurs when an observer attempts to measure it and the wave then manifests as an "actual subatomic particle", so the whole Universe, according to Walker, is ultimately based in nothing but infinite wave-potential. Potential does not equal existence. So it follows that "in the beginning" a cosmic observation -- an act of divine will -- "collapsed" *some* of the infinite potential energy into the first material of time and space. So it seems to me that he implies a separate & supreme consciousness, that is, the monotheistic utterly transcendendent Deity who is not to be identified with His creation. If our whole universe is built from this loving God through His "observation" of the infinite quantum potential, then why is life so full of crap, stupidity, and cruelty? Why must this first "observation" originate from a supreme and conscious entity who is yet beyond all space and time? Why not just blind (or even accidental) creativity? In that way, amorality & human stupidity would be expected. In short, I mostly really enjoyed reading this heartfelt tome, but was sometimes left high & dry by some of the scientific detail or put off by the wishful thinking leaps of faith.
Rating: 5
Summary: Takes the problem of mind head-on. (no pun intended)
Comment: When I was about 5 years old, I looked at my hand and wondered what made it move when I wanted it to, ignoring the obvious mechanics of muscle and bone. I've been thinking about it ever since and now at 55, I've finally read a good explanation. Most explanations explain consciousness away as not really existing or talk around it with much hand waving that explains only the muscle and bone aspect; essentially turning it into no more than a row of falling dominos.
Walker does an excellent job of not only explaining the problem of consciousness but offers a very plausible explanation. His explanation does not limit our free will to something negligible; he simply shows why most of us have so little free will. And he hints at how we can clear up the static that clouds our effective interaction with the world.
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Title: The Dimensional Structure of Consciousness: A Physical Basis for Immaterialism by Samuel Avery ISBN: 0964629100 Publisher: Compari Pub. Date: December, 1995 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: Quantum Mind: The Edge Between Physics & Psychology by Arnold Mindell ISBN: 1887078649 Publisher: Lao Tse Press Pub. Date: 31 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World by Maggie Goswami, Richard E. Reed, Amit Goswami, Fred Alan Wolf ISBN: 0874777984 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Mysticism and the New Physics by Michael Talbot ISBN: 0140193286 Publisher: Arkana Pub. Date: August, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Mind into Matter: A New Alchemy of Science and Spirit by Fred Alan Wolf ISBN: 0966132769 Publisher: Moment Point Press, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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