The Measurement Problem: Evidence for the Existence of Corporeal Reality

John Joseph Taylor

Independent Researcher. Godalming. Surrey. United Kingdom

[email protected]

Abstract

It is argued that Wolfgang Smith’s conception of “corporeal reality” and his interpretation of quantum mechanics have been vindicated by new evidence. Specifically, Smith’s notion of corporeal reality has support in the work of Erik Hoel, and his theory of “causal emergence”, which in turn supports Smith’s interpretation of quantum mechanics in general.

1.Introduction

The Measurement Problem is the enigma of how or, even indeed whether, wave function collapse occurs in quantum mechanics.1 Many intrepid, and often spurious, ideas have been leveraged in response to this issue. Most notoriously, perhaps, is the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI), which purports to resolve the measurement problem by virtue of stipulating that every time a quantum event occurs the universe splits into an infinite number of copies of itself, in order to allow for all possibilities of the wave function to manifest.2

Nevertheless, there have been more sensible attempts to resolve the measurement problem, which typically involve questioning and challenging the current scientific paradigm. One such attempt is Wolfgang Smith’s interpretation, which uses medieval notions of Act and Potency to formulate a novel interpretation of quantum theory. Smith’s underlying thesis is that the current scientific paradigm fatefully assumes that the natural world can be solely and unequivocally reduced to quantity3. Qualities (e.g. the color green), according to this present paradigm are thus, mere illusions, which reside exclusively within

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measurement_problem 2 Everett, Hugh; Wheeler, J. A.; DeWitt, B. S.; Cooper, L. N.; Van Vechten, D.; Graham, N. (1973). DeWitt, Bryce; Graham, R. Neill (eds.). The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton Series in Physics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. v. ISBN 0-691-08131-X. the mind and have no actual place in objective existence. This birfurcationist approach, as it is sometimes termed, in fact dates all the way back to Rene Descartes, who postulated that the real splits elegantly into two disjoint realms- an external world consisting of “res extensa”(extended entities) and an internal or subjective realm concerning “res cogitans”(thinking entities)4. Henceforth science pertains to a type of “residual cartesianism”, which moreover has been integral to the modus operandi of the current scientific paradigm. Smith’s proposal, therefore, is to settle the situation by recuperating Aristotelian/Thomistic metaphysics and by making the distinction between the “corporeal world” and the “physical universe”. Thus, in light of Smith’s resolution of the quantum enigma, this paper will endeavor to demonstrate that his hypothesis has, in fact, been significantly verified in view of recent discoveries.

2.Smith’s Resolution:

Smith’s resolution, firstly, involves the dismantling of “residual cartesianism”. He does this by proclaiming that qualities are an objective part of reality and actually exist. This is termed “corporeal reality”, and it is the place in which we live and move and have our being. Moreover, there is also the world of the physicist (or the “physical universe”), which is the world of quantity or measurement5. Now, having established that there exist two ontologically distinct domains Smith rectifies the measurement problem by proposing that wave function collapse is simply a transition between these two realms, upon a particle being measured.6

Employing Aristotelian/Thomistic philosophy Smith argues that a quantum particle is pure potency (or prime matter), which gets actualized into a corporeal object upon being observed by a measuring apparatus.7 Thus wave function collapse is simply the transition between these two ontological planes.

3. New Evidence

To reiterate it has been established that the measurement problem can be settled by stipulating that qualities are an objective part of the world (or corporeal reality) and that a quantum observation merely incurs a transition between these domains. From this it seems that a reasonable prediction to make, if this were valid, is that qualities can be shown to have an objective effect on our reality.

3 Smith, W., 2011. The Quantum Enigma. San Rafael, Calif.: Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis pp.7-52 4 Smith, W., 2011. The Quantum Enigma. San Rafael, Calif.: Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis pp.7-52 5 Smith, W., 2011. The Quantum Enigma. San Rafael, Calif.: Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis pp.7-52 6 Smith, W., 2011. The Quantum Enigma. San Rafael, Calif.: Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis pp.77-95 7 Smith, W., 2011. The Quantum Enigma. San Rafael, Calif.: Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis pp.77-95 This hypothesis arguably can be supported by new evidence, which suggests that causal agency cannot be totally reduced to the constituent parts of a system but is more accurately understood holistically. In other words, it has arguably been shown that there are causal effects, which can be associated with an object on a macroscopic scale but cannot be attributed (or at least best predicted), by the constituent parts of that system on the microscopic level. This was confirmed by Erik Hoel, who posited a theory known as “Causal Emergence”. Among other things, Hoel’s experimental findings entail that coarse-grained macroscopic states of a physical system (such as the psychological state of a brain), can have more causal power over the systems future than a more detailed fine grained description of the system could have had8. Meaning that macroscopic states, which are ultimately qualitative states (such as desires and beliefs) are the genuine causes of events and not the microscopic constituent parts, which compose these states9.

Hoel’s findings related to his causal emergence theory vindicate Smith’s hypothesis that there exists a corporeal reality. Firstly, by demonstrating that things are more than the sum of their parts, by showing that when certain systems are analyzed microscopically the same predictions cannot be made when that same system is viewed from a macroscopic perspective. Thus there is a radical discrepancy between the predictions produced at the microscopic level and those at the macroscopic domain, for the exact same event, thus implying that the macroscopic is composed of more than just bare matter.

However, these results arguably most poignantly prove that there exists a corporeal domain, by virtue of confirming the prediction that qualities can have an objective impact on reality. Hoel’s experimental research has confirmed this to be the case by showing that qualitative states (such as desires and beliefs) can have more causal power over a system than by describing that state microscopically10. Arguably, such states are purely qualitative and the fact that these states of quality can have a distinct and more powerful causal effect than purely physical microscopic ones (describing the exact same state), seems to imply that qualities can be shown to have an objective impact on reality. This in turn suggests that qualities are an objective part of reality, and not a mental abstraction within the mind, which moreover implies that Smith’s corporeal reality, exists and is real.

4.Conclusion 8 https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-theory-of-reality-as-more-than-the-sum- of-its-parts-20170601/ 9 https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-theory-of-reality-as-more-than-the-sum- of-its-parts-20170601/ 10 https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-theory-of-reality-as-more-than-the-sum- of-its-parts-20170601/ In closing Hoel’s theory of “causal emergence” and his experiments give credence to Smith’s idea of a corporeal reality, for the reasons just expressed. Moreover, this arguable confirmation of corporeal reality goes some way to resolving the measurement problem. This is because a key premise of Smith’s resolution has been verified, which thus increases the likelihood of his interpretation being correct. Therefore, it must be concluded that the existence of corporeal reality has strong support in causal emergence theory, and arguably even confirmed to exist, which in turn supports Smith’s interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Bibliography

Everett, Hugh; Wheeler, J. A.; DeWitt, B. S.; Cooper, L. N.; Van Vechten, D.; Graham, N. (1973). DeWitt, Bryce; Graham, R. Neill (eds.). The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton Series in Physics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. v. ISBN 0-691-08131-X.

Smith, W., 2011. The Quantum Enigma. San Rafael, Calif.: Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-theory-of-reality-as-more-than-the-sum-of- its-parts-20170601/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measurement_problem