Stapp's Quantum Brain Stapp uses traditional or "orthodox" Bohr theory and, contradicting Patricia Churchland's argument, thinks that is enough to explain consciousness qualia and intentional free will. He thinks that if anomalous phenomena like psychokinesis (reported by Roger Nelson of PEAR at this conference) and remote-viewing are facts, then that will involve a violation of orthodox quantum mechanics. In contrast, I say that all mental states require back-action which is a violation of the Born probability rule of orthodox quantum mechanics. In my theory ordinary consciousness as well anomalous esp phenomena are essentially the same process on different time and space scales. If the brain is acting as a quantum computer to make the decision, then intention must correspond to the halting of the quantum computer. Is this compatible with the usual Born rule?

Stapp says that the collapse of the wave function (actually density matrix to be more precise) of the brain is the subjective experience of qualia. Stapp says that morally responsible free choice or intention is possible without violating the Born rule because the sensory input to the brain combined with past memory prepares a coherent superposition of possible future behaviors. Note that Stapp's position here not only contradicts Patricia Churchland's point that complete indeterminism precludes free will, it also contradicts Squires remark

there may be circumstances in which there is a quantum superposition in the brain which is not correlated to things outside the brain ... Then the selection, which perhaps need not be random, could determine the action that a person takes. This would correspond to our experience of free-will,
My idea that back-action, which violates the Born rule and introduces controllable coherent nonrandom order into orthodox complete quantum indeterminism, is required for free will is compatible with both Churchland and Squires. Nevertheless, let's see what Stapp appears to be saying. If I understand him, and, like Bohr, he is very abstract in his explanation (there is room for misinterpretation here), Stapp seems to say that our morally responsible free will is in the shaping of this initial state. There is an effective high level collective Hamiltonian whose parameters are under the control of the "self" or "I". For example, suppose you are asked to do an experiment in which you decide to raise or not to raise your arm. Your brain shapes a Hamiltonian in which the state is perhaps

|brain) = (1/sqrt2)[ |raise arm) + |not raise arm)]

Therefore, your actual future behavior is a random pattern of choices with equal probability.

In contrast you are driving your car and you see a red light. This external perturbation to your brain Hamiltonian based on some kind of comparator mechanism shapes the Hamiltonian such that, for example,

|brain) = [ (sqrt .99)|stop car) + (sqrt .01) |run red light)]

So that 99 times out of a hundred you will stop the car and not get a ticket or cause an accident. The point is that what you actually do is still controlled by the Born rule, but your intention happens at the state of preparation of the quantum state of the brain. It should be clear that Stapp is not only talking about outer motor behavior, but he is also saying that the collapse is the internal subjective qualia experience attached to the motor act.

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