Panpsychism: Can Quantum Indeterminacy Give Rise to Consciousness in Inanimate Objects?

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I have a related question: Can misunderstanding quantum mechanics cause people to attribute agency to inanimate objects?

Can having a good understanding in quantum mechanics help me fix my car quicker?

I would say it works both ways.

 

[bilby]

Can having a good understanding in quantum mechanics help me fix my car quicker?

I would say it works both ways.

Not really; finding tools is pretty difficult when you are a quantum mechanic. Even Home Depot don't stock a 2 1/4 Planck Length drive socket set.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

It's a question of scope isn't it? Maybe the universe is part of a mechanism contained in a larger organism. What we call consciousness would simply be the natural path some part of that larger organism takes, not unlike a cell doing its thing among millions of other cells. Humans are conscious, we say, but aren't we really just saying that our brains are conscious? Is my foot conscious? Is my eye conscious? If the cells in my feet are not conscious then what are they? They seem to operate as if they are.

At risk of getting an Internet beating, let me say that in lower-risk of assumption but compatible terms, the determination of "indeterminant" events could be some property of the Universe...like spin of an electron but at a much larger scale. Being part of a larger organism would fall into that kind of category but that one is kind of silly and it is not necessary to go that far. The term consciousness is not a necessary element either since such property of the Universe could explain the indeterminant events without the need. I have no evidence or proof to offer except to say that there ought to be properties of the Universe, like the amount of energy contained therein, the amount of space-time, and derived properties such as the energy per space-time, none of which have I termed accurately or understand.