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[22]Home : [23]Skeptical Inquirer magazine : [24]January/February 1997
[25]Cover 

Quantum Quackery

_Quantum physics is claimed to support the mystical notion that the
mind creates reality. However, an objective reality, with no special
role for consciousness, human or cosmic, is consistent with all
observations._

[26]Victor J. Stenger
_________________________________________________________________

Certain interpretations of quantum mechanics, the revolutionary theory
developed early in the century to account for the anomalous behavior
of light and atoms, are being misconstrued so as to imply that only
thoughts are real and that the physical universe is the product of a
cosmic mind to which the human mind is linked throughout space and
time. This interpretation has provided an ostensibly scientific basis
for various mind-over-matter claims, from ESP to alternative medicine.
"Quantum mysticism" also forms part of the intellectual backdrop for
the postmodern assertion that science has no claim on objective
reality.

The word "quantum" appears frequently in New Age and modern mystical
literature. For example, physician Deepak Chopra (1989) has
successfully promoted a notion he calls quantum healing, which
suggests we can cure all our ills by the application of sufficient
mental power.

According to Chopra, this profound conclusion can be drawn from
quantum physics, which he says has demonstrated that "the physical
world, including our bodies, is a response of the observer. We create
our bodies as we create the experience of our world" (Chopra 1993, 5).
Chopra also asserts that "beliefs, thoughts, and emotions create the
chemical reactions that uphold life in every cell," and "the world you
live in, including the experience of your body, is completely dictated
by how you learn to perceive it" (Chopra 1993, 6). Thus illness and
aging are an illusion and we can achieve what Chopra calls "ageless
body, timeless mind" by the sheer force of consciousness.[27]1

Amit Goswami, in The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates
the Material World, argues that the existence of paranormal phenomena
is supported by quantum mechanics:

_. . . psychic phenomena, such as distant viewing and out-of-body
experiences, are examples of the nonlocal operation of
consciousness . . . . Quantum mechanics undergirds such a theory by
providing crucial support for the case of nonlocality of
consciousness. (Goswami 1993, 136) _

Since no convincing, reproducible evidence for psychic phenomena has
been found, despite 150 years of effort, this is a flimsy basis indeed
for quantum consciousness.[28]2

Although mysticism is said to exist in the writings of many of the
early century's prominent physicists (Wilber 1984), the current fad of
mystical physics began in earnest with the publication in 1975 of
Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics (Capra 1975). There Capra asserted
that quantum theory has confirmed the traditional teaching of Eastern
mystics: that human consciousness and the universe form an
interconnected, irreducible whole. An example:

_To the enlightened man . . . whose consciousness embraces the
universe, to him the universe becomes his "body," while the
physical body becomes a manifestation of the Universal Mind, his
inner vision an expression of the highest reality, and his speech
an expression of eternal truth and mantric power _

Lama Anagarika
Govinda Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism[29]3
(Capra 1975, 305)

Capra's book was an inspiration for the New Age, and "quantum" became
a buzzword used to buttress the trendy, pseudoscientific spirituality
that characterizes this movement.[30]4

Wave-Particle Duality

Quantum mechanics is thought, even by many physicists, to be suffused
with mysteries and paradoxes. Mystics seize upon these to support
their views. The source of most of these claims can be traced to the
so-called wave-particle duality of quantum physics: Physical objects,
at the quantum level, seem to possess both local, reductionist
particle and nonlocal, holistic wave properties that become manifest
depending on whether the position or wavelength of the object is
measured.

The two types of properties, wave and particle, are said to be
incompatible. Measurement of one quantity will in general affect the
value the other quantity will have in a future measurement.
Furthermore, the value to be obtained in the future measurement is
undetermined; that is, it is unpredictable-although the statistical
distribution of an ensemble of similar measurements remains
predictable. In this way, quantum mechanics obtains its
indeterministic quality, usually expressed in terms of the Heisenberg
uncertainty principle. In general, the mathematical formalism of
quantum mechanics can only predict statistical distributions.[31]5

Despite wave-particle duality, the particle picture is maintained in
most quantum mechanical applications. Atoms, nuclei, electrons, and
quarks are all regarded as particles at some level. At the same time,
classical "waves" such as those of light and sound are replaced by
localized photons and phonons, respectively, when quantum effects must
be considered.

In conventional quantum mechanics, the wave properties of particles
are formally represented by a mathematical quantity called the wave
function, used to compute the probability that the particle will be
found at a particular position. When a measurement is made, and its
position is then known with greater accuracy, the wave function is
said to "collapse," as illustrated in Figure 1.
_________________________________________________________________

Figure1
_Figure 1._ Wave function collapse in conventional quantum mechanics.
An electron is localized by passing through an aperture. The
probability that it will then be found at the particular position is
determined by the wave function illustrated to the right of the
aperture. When the electron is then detected at A, the wave function
instantaneously collapses so that it is zero at B.
_________________________________________________________________

Einstein never liked the notion of wave function collapse, calling it
a "spooky action at a distance." In Figure 1, a signal would appear to
propagate with infinite speed from A to B to tell the wave function to
collapse to zero at B once the particle has been detected at A.
Indeed, this signal must propagate at infinite speed throughout the
universe since, prior to detection, the electron could in principle
have been detected anywhere.

This surely violates Einstein's assertion that no signals can move
faster than the speed of light.

Although they are usually not so explicit, quantum mystics seem to
interpret the wave function as some kind of vibration of a holistic
ether that pervades the universe, as "real" as the vibration in air we
call a sound wave. Wave function collapse, in their view, happens
instantaneously throughout the universe by a willful act of cosmic
consciousness.

In their book The Conscious Universe, Menas Kafatos and Robert Nadeau
identify the wave function with "Being-In-Itself":

_One could then conclude that Being, in its physical analogue at
least, had been "revealed" in the wave function. . . . [A]ny sense
we have of profound unity with the cosmos . . . could be presumed
to correlate with the action of the deterministic wave function . .
. ._ (Kafatos and Nadeau 1990, 124)

Thus they follow Capra in imagining that quantum mechanics unites mind
with the universe. But our inner sense of "profound unity with the
cosmos" is hardly scientific evidence.

The conventional interpretation of quantum mechanics, promulgated by
Bohr and still held by most physicists, says nothing about
consciousness. It concerns only what can be measured and what
predictions can be made about the statistical distributions of
ensembles of future measurements. As noted, the wave function is
simply a mathematical object used to calculate probabilities.
Mathematical constructs can be as magical as any other figment of the
human imagination-like the Starship Enterprise or a Roadrunner
cartoon. Nowhere does quantum mechanics imply that real matter or
signals travel faster than light. In fact, superluminal signal
propagation has been proven to be impossible in any theory consistent
with conventional relativity and quantum mechanics (Eberhard and Ross
1989).

Romantic Interpretations

Not everyone has been happy with the conventional interpretation of
quantum mechanics, which offers no real explanation for wave function
collapse. The desire for consensus on an ontological interpretation of
quantum mechanics has led to hundreds of proposals over the years,
none gaining even a simple majority of support among physicists or
philosophers.

Spurred on by Einstein's insistence that quantum mechanics is an
incomplete theory, that "God does not play dice," subquantum theories
involving "hidden variables" have been sought that provide for forces
that lie below current levels of observation (Bohm and Hiley 1993).
While such theories are possible, no evidence has yet been found for
subquantum forces. Furthermore, experiments have made it almost
certain that any such theory, if deterministic, must involve
superluminal connections.[32]6

Nevertheless, quantum mystics have greeted the possibility of
nonlocal, holistic, hidden variables with the same enthusiasm they
show for the conscious wave function. Likewise, they have embraced a
third view: the many worlds interpretation of Hugh Everett (Everett
1957).

Everett usefully showed how it was formally possible to eliminate wave
function collapse in a quantum theory of measurement. Everett proposed
that all possible paths continue to exist in parallel universes which
split off every time a measurement is made. This has left the door
open for the quantum mystics to claim that the human mind acts as sort
of a "channel selector" for the path that is followed in an individual
universe while existing itself in all universes (Squires 1990).
Needless to say, the idea of parallel universes has attracted its own
circle of enthusiastic proponents, in all universes presumably.

Effective Nonlocality

Admittedly, the quantum world is different from the world of everyday
experience that obeys the rules of classical Newtonian mechanics.
Something beyond normal common sense and classical physics is
necessary to describe the fundamental processes inside atoms and
nuclei. In particular, an explanation must be given for the apparent
nonlocality, the instantaneous "quantum leap," that typifies the
non-commonsensical nature of quantum phenomena.

Despite the oft-heard statement that quantum particles do not follow
well-defined paths in space-time, elementary-particle physicists have
been utilizing just such a picture for fifty years. How is this
reconciled with the quantum leap that seems to characterize atomic
transitions and similar phenomena? We can see how, in the space-time
diagram shown in Figure 2.
_________________________________________________________________

Figure2
_Figure 2._ Effective nonlocality. How an apparent instantaneous
"quantum leap" can be made between two points in space. An
electron-positron pair is created at C by a quantum fluctuation of the
vacuum. The positron annihilates an electron at A, undoing the
original vacuum fluctuation so that there is zero net-energy change.
The electron thus appears to make an instantaneous quantum leap from A
to B. The distance AB is comparable to the wavelength associated with
the particle, so "holistic" wave behavior results.
_________________________________________________________________

On the left, an electron (e-) is moving along a well-defined path. An
electron-positron pair (e-e+) is produced at point C by a quantum
fluctuation of the vacuum, allowed by the uncertainty principle. The
positron annihilates the original electron at point A while the
electron from the pair continues past point B. Since all electrons are
indistinguishable, it appears as if the original electron has jumped
instantaneously from A to B.

In Figure 2, all the particles involved follow definite paths. None
moves faster than the speed of light. Yet what is observed is
operationally equivalent to an electron undergoing superluminal
motion, disappearing at A and appearing simultaneously at a distant
point B. No experiment can be performed in which the electron on the
left can be distinguished from the one on the right. A simple
calculation shows that the distance AB is of the order of the (de
Broglie) wavelength of the particle. In this manner, the "holistic"
wave nature of particles can be understood in a manner that requires
no superluminal motion and certainly no intervention of human
consciousness.

Furthermore, since the quantum jump is random, no signal or other
causal effect is superluminally transmitted. On the other hand, a
deterministic theory based on subquantum forces or hidden variables is
necessarily superluminal.

Thus quantum mechanics, as conventionally practiced, describes quantum
leaps without too drastic a quantum leap beyond common sense.
Certainly no mystical assertions are justified by any observations
concerning quantum processes.

Conclusion

Quantum mechanics, the centerpiece of modern physics, is
misinterpreted as implying that the human mind controls reality and
that the universe is one connected whole that cannot be understood by
the usual reduction to parts.

However, no compelling argument or evidence requires that quantum
mechanics plays a central role in human consciousness or provides
instantaneous, holistic connections across the universe. Modern
physics, including quantum mechanics, remains completely materialistic
and reductionistic while being consistent with all scientific
observations.

The apparent holistic, nonlocal behavior of quantum phenomena, as
exemplified by a particle's appearing to be in two places at once, can
be understood without discarding the commonsense notion of particles
following definite paths in space and time or requiring that signals
travel faster than the speed of light.

No superluminal motion or signalling has ever been observed, in
agreement with the limit set by the theory of relativity. Furthermore,
interpretations of quantum effects need not so uproot classical
physics, or common sense, as to render them inoperable on all
scales-especially the macroscopic scale on which humans function.
Newtonian physics, which successfully describes virtually all
macroscopic phenomena, follows smoothly as the many-particle limit of
quantum mechanics. And common sense continues to apply on the human
scale.

Notes

1. For a review of alternate medicine, including "quantum medicine,"
see Douglas Stalker and Clark Glymour, eds., Examining Holistic
Medicine (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1985).
2. For a fuller discussion and references, see Victor J. Stenger,
Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses
(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1990).
3. L. A. Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism (New York: Samuel
Weiser, 1974), p. 225, as quoted in Capra 1975, p. 305.
4. See, for example, Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy:
Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s (Los Angeles:
Tarcher, 1980).
5. Of course, in some cases those distributions may be highly peaked
and thus an outcome can be predicted with high probability, that
is, certainty for all practical purposes. In fact, this is
precisely what happens in the case of systems of many particles,
such as macroscopic objects. These systems then become describable
by deterministic classical mechanics as the many-particle limit of
quantum mechanics.
6. For a fuller discussion and references, see Victor J. Stenger, The
Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology
(Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 1995).

References

1. Bohm D., and B. J. Hiley. 1993. The Undivided Universe: An
Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. London:
Routledge.
2. Capra, Fritjof. 1975. The Tao of Physics. Boulder, Colorado:
Shambhala.
3. Chopra, Deepak. 1989. Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of
Mind/Body Medicine. New York: Bantam.
4. ---. 1993. Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to
Growing Old. New York: Random House.
5. Eberhard, Phillippe H., and Ronald R. Ross. 1989. Quantum field
theory cannot provide faster-than-light communication. Found.
Phys. Lett. 2: 127-149.
6. Everett III, Hugh. 1957. "Relative state" formulation of quantum
mechanics. Rev. Mod. Phys. 29: 454-462.
7. Goswami, Amit. 1993. The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness
Creates the Material World. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
8. Kafatos, Menas, and Robert Nadeau. 1990. The Conscious Universe:
Part and Whole in Modern Physical Theory. New York:
Springer-Verlag.
9. Squires, Euan. 1990. Conscious Mind in the Physical World. New
York: Adam Hilger.
10. Wilber, Ken, ed. 1984. Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the
World's Great Physicists. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala.

About the Author

_Victor J. Stenger_ is professor of physics and astronomy at the
University of Hawaii and the author of
_[33]Not By Design: The Origin of the Universe_ (Prometheus Books,
1988) and _[34]Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the
Senses_ (Prometheus Books, 1990). This paper is based on his latest
book, _[35]The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and
Cosmology_ (Prometheus Books, 1995).

Related Information

* [36]Victor J. Stenger home page
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