Quantum Brainstorming

Here’s an interesting chain of emails on quantum consciousness, cognition, and perception, up through this morning. The discussion is relatively advanced.

It begins with cognitive theorist and computer scientist Sean O’Nuallain discussing his scientific partnership with Walter J. Freeman III, a neuroscientist, philosopher, doctor, mathematician, and son of Walter Freeman II of prefrontal (“icepick”) lobotomy fame. Freeman III was acutely aware of the tragic side of lobotomy, and felt a need to rationalize or ameliorate his father’s practices.

Sean: “To everybody's surprise, at the start of this century Freeman converted to quantum field theory. Many of us thought this was just a flirtation, but nothing in him was anything other than deadly serious. Remember that he felt a burden to somehow justify the thousands of prefrontal lobotomies that his father had done.”

Sean goes on to name three approaches to the quantum-classical interface, a very important issue in discussions of quantum consciousness. In addition to Sean and me, two others are quoted: Karla, an academic specializing in physics, philosophy, and psychology, and Riccardo, an Italian gestalt therapist.