Henry Stapp: Difference between revisions
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==Other fields of research== |
==Other fields of research== |
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Stapp has worked also in a number of conventional areas of high energy physics, including analysis of the scattering of polarized protons, parity violation, and S-matrix theory.<ref name=esalenbio/> |
Stapp has worked also in a number of conventional areas of high energy physics, including analysis of the scattering of polarized protons, parity violation, and S-matrix theory.<ref name=esalenbio/> |
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==Reception== |
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Stapp's work has drawn criticism from scientists such as David Bourge and Danko Georgiev.<ref name=Bourget> |
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{{cite journal |
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|last=Bourget |first=D. |
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|year=2004 |
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|title=Quantum Leaps in Philosophy of Mind: A Critique of Stapp's Theory |
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|url= |
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|journal=[[Journal of Consciousness Studies]] |
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|volume=11 |issue=12 |pages=17–42 |
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|doi= |
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}}</ref> Recent work<ref name="Georgiev2012"> |
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{{cite journal |
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|last1=Georgiev |first1=D. |
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|year=2012 |
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|title=Mind efforts, quantum Zeno effect and environmental decoherence |
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|url=http://www.neuroquantology.com/index.php/journal/article/view/552 |
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|journal=[[NeuroQuantology]] |
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|volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=374–388 |doi=10.14704/nq.2012.10.3.552 |
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}}</ref> criticizes Stapp's model in two aspects: (1) The mind in Stapp's model does not have its own [[wavefunction]] or [[density matrix]], but nevertheless can act upon the brain using [[Projection (linear algebra)|projection operators]]. Such usage is not compatible with standard quantum mechanics because one can attach any number of ghostly minds to any point in space that act upon physical quantum systems with any projection operators. Therefore Stapp's model does not build upon "the prevailing principles of physics", but negates them.<ref name="Georgiev2012"/> (2) Stapp's claim that quantum Zeno effect is robust against environmental decoherence directly contradicts a basic theorem in [[quantum information theory]] according to which acting with projection operators upon the density matrix of a quantum system can never decrease the [[Von Neumann entropy]] of the system, but can only increase it.<ref name="Georgiev2012"/> |
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}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 16:38, 1 December 2014
Henry Stapp | |
|---|---|
| Born | Henry Pierce Stapp 23 March 1928 |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan (B.Sc.) University of California, Berkeley (M.A.)(Ph.D.) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics Quantum Mechanics |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
| Doctoral advisor | Emilio Segrè Owen Chamberlain |
Henry Pierce Stapp (born March 23, 1928)[1] is an American physicist, known for his work in quantum mechanics.[2]
Biography
Stapp received his PhD in particle physics at the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Nobel Laureates Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain. While there, he was a member of the Berkeley Fundamental Fysiks Group, founded in May 1975 by Elizabeth Rauscher and George Weissmann, which met weekly to discuss philosophy and quantum physics.[3]
Stapp moved to ETH Zurich to do post-doctoral work under Wolfgang Pauli. During this period he composed an article called "Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics," which he did not submit for publication, but which became the title of his 1993 book. When Pauli died in 1958, Stapp transferred to Munich, then in the company of Werner Heisenberg.[4]
He is retired from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,[5] but remains a member of its scientific staff.[6]
Consciousness
Some of Stapp's work concerns the implications of quantum mechanics for consciousness.
Stapp favors the idea that quantum wave functions collapse only when they interact with consciousness as a consequence of "orthodox" quantum mechanics. He argues that quantum wave functions collapse when conscious minds select one among the alternative quantum possibilities.[7] His hypothesis of how mind may interact with matter via quantum processes in the brain differs from that of Penrose and Hameroff. While they postulate quantum computing in the microtubules in brain neurons, Stapp postulates a more global collapse, a 'mind like' wave-function collapse that exploits certain aspects of the quantum Zeno effect within the synapses. Stapp's view of the neural correlate of attention is explained in his book, Mindful Universe: Quantum Mechanics and the Participating Observer (2007).[8]
In this book he also credits John von Neumann's Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (1955, 1932) with providing an "orthodox" quantum mechanics demonstrating mathematically the essential role of quantum physics in the mind.
Other fields of research
Stapp has worked also in a number of conventional areas of high energy physics, including analysis of the scattering of polarized protons, parity violation, and S-matrix theory.[4]
Reception
Stapp's work has drawn criticism from scientists such as David Bourge and Danko Georgiev.[9] Recent work[10] criticizes Stapp's model in two aspects: (1) The mind in Stapp's model does not have its own wavefunction or density matrix, but nevertheless can act upon the brain using projection operators. Such usage is not compatible with standard quantum mechanics because one can attach any number of ghostly minds to any point in space that act upon physical quantum systems with any projection operators. Therefore Stapp's model does not build upon "the prevailing principles of physics", but negates them.[10] (2) Stapp's claim that quantum Zeno effect is robust against environmental decoherence directly contradicts a basic theorem in quantum information theory according to which acting with projection operators upon the density matrix of a quantum system can never decrease the Von Neumann entropy of the system, but can only increase it.[10]
}}</ref>
See also
References
- ^ http://www.henrystapp.org/cv.html
- ^ Kaiser, David. How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture and the Quantum Revival. W. W. Norton & Company, 2011, p. 254.
- ^ Kaiser 2011, pp. xv–xvii, 101.
- ^ a b "Henry Stapp, Ph.D." Esalen Institute. May 12, 2005. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- ^ http://www-theory.lbl.gov/theoryretirees.html
- ^ https://commons.lbl.gov/display/lbldiv/Physics+Scientific+Staff
- ^ David Papineau, Howard Selina Introducing Consciousness. Introducingbooks.com
- ^ Stapp H.P. Mindful Universe: Quantum Mechanics and the Participating Observer. Springer, 2007.
- ^ Bourget, D. (2004). "Quantum Leaps in Philosophy of Mind: A Critique of Stapp's Theory". Journal of Consciousness Studies. 11 (12): 17–42.
- ^ a b c Georgiev, D. (2012). "Mind efforts, quantum Zeno effect and environmental decoherence". NeuroQuantology. 10 (3): 374–388. doi:10.14704/nq.2012.10.3.552.
External links
- Stapp's personal site, including links to papers, books and video
- List of papers by Stapp on LBNL server
- Physics and Whitehead Workshop with contribution by Henry Stapp: Whiteheadian Process and Quantum Theory of the Mind, in: Session II Fundamental Processes