Quantum Realism Part II: The Observer Reality
CHAPTER 6. THE MYSTERY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Brian Whitworth, New Zealand
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” Max Planck, (Sullivan, 1931).
This chapter examines the observer rather than the observed of previous chapters. In science, to observe is just to acquire information, as a camera taking a picture does, but it doesn’t experience that image as we do. We say “I see”, where I is the observer, and so conclude that we observe consciously but cameras don’t because they don’t experience as we do. Yet if our eyes are just biological cameras, with a retina instead of film, why don’t we observe impersonally as cameras do? No law of physics requires matter to observe, so if we are just matter, why do we have conscious experiences? The mystery of consciousness is that a purely physical universe doesn’t imply, or even allow, the observer experience that we all report having.
QR6.1 What Is Consciousness?
QR6.2 Evolving A Brain
QR6.3 Evolving Consciousness
QR6.4 Discussion Questions
QR6.5 References