Quantum Physics Quackery (Skeptical Inquirer January 1997) Committee for Skeptical Inquiry » Home » Contact CSI » Search: You can help by making a tax-deductible donation! 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However, an objective reality,with no special role for consciousness, human or cosmic, isconsistent with all observations.Victor J. Stenger Certain interpretations of quantum mechanics, the revolutionary theorydeveloped early in the century to account for the anomalous behaviorof light and atoms, are being misconstrued so as to imply that onlythoughts are real and that the physical universe is the product of acosmic mind to which the human mind is linked throughout space andtime. This interpretation has provided an ostensibly scientific basisfor various mind-over-matter claims, from ESP to alternativemedicine. "Quantum mysticism" also forms part of theintellectual backdrop for the postmodern assertion that science has noclaim on objective reality. The word "quantum" appears frequently in New Age and modernmystical literature. For example, physician Deepak Chopra (1989) hassuccessfully promoted a notion he calls quantum healing, which suggests we can cureall our ills by the application of sufficient mental power. According to Chopra, this profound conclusion can be drawn fromquantum physics, which he says has demonstrated that "thephysical world, including our bodies, is a response of theobserver. We create our bodies as we create the experience of ourworld" (Chopra 1993, 5). Chopra also asserts that "beliefs,thoughts, and emotions create the chemical reactions that uphold lifein every cell," and "the world you live in, including theexperience of your body, is completely dictated by how you learn toperceive it" (Chopra 1993, 6). Thus illness and aging are anillusion and we can achieve what Chopra calls "ageless body,timeless mind" by the sheer force of consciousness.1Amit Goswami, in The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates theMaterial World, argues that the existence of paranormal phenomena issupported by quantum mechanics:. . . psychic phenomena, such as distant viewing and out-of-body experiences,are examples of the nonlocal operation of consciousness . . . . Quantummechanics undergirds such a theory by providing crucial support for the caseof nonlocality of consciousness. (Goswami 1993, 136)Since no convincing, reproducible evidence for psychic phenomena has beenfound, despite 150 years of effort, this is a flimsy basis indeed for quantumconsciousness.2Although mysticism is said to exist in the writings of many of the earlycentury's prominent physicists (Wilber 1984), the current fad of mysticalphysics began in earnest with the publication in 1975 of Fritjof Capra's TheTao of Physics (Capra 1975). There Capra asserted that quantum theory hasconfirmed the traditional teaching of Eastern mystics: that humanconsciousness and the universe form an interconnected, irreducible whole. Anexample: 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 Mysticism3 (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.4Wave-Particle DualityQuantum mechanics is thought, even by many physicists, to be suffused withmysteries and paradoxes. Mystics seize upon these to support their views. Thesource of most of these claims can be traced to the so-called wave-particleduality of quantum physics: Physical objects, at the quantum level, seem topossess both local, reductionist particle and nonlocal, holistic waveproperties that become manifest depending on whether the position orwavelength 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 otherquantity will have in a future measurement. Furthermore, the value to beobtained in the future measurement is undetermined; that is, it isunpredictable-although the statistical distribution of an ensemble of similarmeasurements remains predictable. In this way, quantum mechanics obtains itsindeterministic quality, usually expressed in terms of the Heisenberguncertainty principle. In general, the mathematical formalism of quantummechanics can only predict statistical distributions.5Despite wave-particle duality, the particle picture is maintained in mostquantum mechanical applications. Atoms, nuclei, electrons, and quarks are allregarded as particles at some level. At the same time, classical "waves" suchas 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 particlesare formally represented by a mathematical quantity called the wavefunction, used to compute the probability that the particle will befound at a particular position. When a measurement is made, and itsposition is then known with greater accuracy, the wave function issaid to "collapse," as illustrated in Figure 1.  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 topropagate with infinite speed from A to B to tell the wave function tocollapse to zero at B once the particle has been detected at A. Indeed, thissignal must propagate at infinite speed throughout the universe since, priorto detection, the electron could in principle have been detected anywhere.This surely violates Einstein's assertion that no signals can move fasterthan the speed of light. Although they are usually not so explicit, quantum mystics seem to interpretthe wave function as some kind of vibration of a holistic ether that pervadesthe universe, as "real" as the vibration in air we call a sound wave. Wavefunction collapse, in their view, happens instantaneously throughout theuniverse by a willful act of cosmic consciousness.In their book The Conscious Universe, Menas Kafatos and Robert Nadeauidentify the wave function with "Being-In-Itself":One could then conclude that Being, in its physicalanalogue at least, had been "revealed" in the wavefunction. . . . [A]ny sense we have of profound unity with the cosmos. . . could be presumed to correlate with the action of thedeterministic wave function . . . . (Kafatos and Nadeau 1990,124)Thus they follow Capra in imagining that quantum mechanics unites mindwith the universe. But our inner sense of "profound unity withthe cosmos" is hardly scientific evidence. The conventional interpretation of quantum mechanics, promulgated by Bohrand still held by most physicists, says nothing about consciousness. Itconcerns only what can be measured and what predictions can be made about thestatistical distributions of ensembles of future measurements. As noted, thewave function is simply a mathematical object used to calculateprobabilities. Mathematical constructs can be as magical as any other figmentof the human imagination-like the Starship Enterprise or a Roadrunnercartoon. Nowhere does quantum mechanics imply that real matter or signalstravel faster than light. In fact, superluminal signal propagation has beenproven to be impossible in any theory consistent with conventional relativityand quantum mechanics (Eberhard and Ross 1989).Romantic InterpretationsNot everyone has been happy with the conventional interpretation of quantummechanics, which offers no real explanation for wave function collapse. Thedesire for consensus on an ontological interpretation of quantum mechanicshas led to hundreds of proposals over the years, none gaining even a simplemajority of support among physicists or philosophers. Spurred on by Einstein's insistence that quantum mechanics is an incompletetheory, that "God does not play dice," subquantum theories involving "hiddenvariables" have been sought that provide for forces that lie below currentlevels of observation (Bohm and Hiley 1993). While such theories arepossible, no evidence has yet been found for subquantum forces. Furthermore,experiments have made it almost certain that any such theory, ifdeterministic, must involve superluminal connections.6Nevertheless, quantum mystics have greeted the possibility of nonlocal,holistic, hidden variables with the same enthusiasm they show for theconscious wave function. Likewise, they have embraced a third view: the manyworlds interpretation of Hugh Everett (Everett 1957).Everett usefully showed how it was formally possible to eliminate wavefunction collapse in a quantum theory of measurement. Everett proposed thatall possible paths continue to exist in parallel universes which split offevery time a measurement is made. This has left the door open for the quantummystics to claim that the human mind acts as sort of a "channel selector" forthe path that is followed in an individual universe while existing itself inall universes (Squires 1990). Needless to say, the idea of parallel universeshas attracted its own circle of enthusiastic proponents, in all universespresumably.Effective NonlocalityAdmittedly, the quantum world is different from the world of everydayexperience that obeys the rules of classical Newtonian mechanics. Somethingbeyond normal common sense and classical physics is necessary to describe thefundamental processes inside atoms and nuclei. In particular, an explanationmust 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 followwell-defined paths in space-time, elementary-particle physicists have beenutilizing just such a picture for fifty years. How is this reconciled withthe quantum leap that seems to characterize atomic transitions and similarphenomena? We can see how, in the space-time diagram shown in Figure 2.  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. Anelectron-positron pair (e-e+) is produced at point C by a quantum fluctuationof the vacuum, allowed by the uncertainty principle. The positron annihilatesthe original electron at point A while the electron from the pair continuespast point B. Since all electrons are indistinguishable, it appears as if theoriginal electron has jumped instantaneously from A to B.In Figure 2, all the particles involved follow definite paths. None movesfaster than the speed of light. Yet what is observed is operationallyequivalent to an electron undergoing superluminal motion, disappearing at Aand appearing simultaneously at a distant point B. No experiment can beperformed in which the electron on the left can be distinguished from the oneon the right. A simple calculation shows that the distance AB is of the orderof the (de Broglie) wavelength of the particle. In this manner, the"holistic" wave nature of particles can be understood in a manner thatrequires no superluminal motion and certainly no intervention of humanconsciousness. Furthermore, since the quantum jump is random, no signal or other causaleffect is superluminally transmitted. On the other hand, a deterministictheory based on subquantum forces or hidden variables is necessarilysuperluminal.Thus quantum mechanics, as conventionally practiced, describes quantum leapswithout too drastic a quantum leap beyond common sense. Certainly no mysticalassertions are justified by any observations concerning quantum processes.ConclusionQuantum mechanics, the centerpiece of modern physics, is misinterpreted asimplying that the human mind controls reality and that the universe is oneconnected whole that cannot be understood by the usual reduction to parts.However, no compelling argument or evidence requires that quantum mechanicsplays a central role in human consciousness or provides instantaneous,holistic connections across the universe. Modern physics, including quantummechanics, remains completely materialistic and reductionistic while beingconsistent with all scientific observations. The apparent holistic, nonlocal behavior of quantum phenomena, asexemplified by a particle's appearing to be in two places at once, can beunderstood without discarding the commonsense notion of particles followingdefinite paths in space and time or requiring that signals travel faster thanthe speed of light.No superluminal motion or signalling has ever been observed, in agreementwith the limit set by the theory of relativity. Furthermore, interpretationsof quantum effects need not so uproot classical physics, or common sense, asto render them inoperable on all scales-especially the macroscopic scale onwhich humans function. Newtonian physics, which successfully describesvirtually all macroscopic phenomena, follows smoothly as the many-particlelimit of quantum mechanics. And common sense continues to apply on the humanscale.About the Author Victor J. Stenger is professor of physics and astronomy atthe University of Hawaii and the author of Not By Design: The Origin of theUniverse (Prometheus Books, 1988) and Physics and Psychics: The Search for a WorldBeyond the Senses (Prometheus Books, 1990). This paper is based onhis latest book, The UnconsciousQuantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology (PrometheusBooks, 1995).Related Information Victor J. Stenger home page Search CSICOP: Victor J. StengerNotes 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). 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). L. A. Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1974), p. 225, as quoted in Capra 1975, p. 305. See, for example, Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s (Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1980). 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. 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 Bohm D., and B. J. Hiley. 1993. The Undivided Universe: An OntologicalInterpretation of Quantum Mechanics. London: Routledge. Capra, Fritjof. 1975. The Tao of Physics. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala. Chopra, Deepak. 1989. Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/BodyMedicine. New York: Bantam. ---. 1993. Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to GrowingOld. New York: Random House. Eberhard, Phillippe H., and Ronald R. Ross. 1989. Quantum field theory cannotprovide faster-than-light communication. Found. Phys. Lett. 2: 127-149. Everett III, Hugh. 1957. "Relative state" formulation of quantum mechanics.Rev. Mod. Phys. 29: 454-462. Goswami, Amit. 1993. The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates theMaterial World. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Kafatos, Menas, and Robert Nadeau. 1990. The Conscious Universe: Part andWhole in Modern Physical Theory. New York: Springer-Verlag. Squires, Euan. 1990. Conscious Mind in the Physical World. New York: AdamHilger. Wilber, Ken, ed. 1984. Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World'sGreat Physicists. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala.
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