Quantum Mechanics and Top-Down Causation
The theory of quantum mechanics is no more friendly to top-down causation (a seemingly necessary process for upholding both volition and physicalism) than Newtonian determinism.
First, volition. The notion of free will has become such a burdened term that arguing for its existence requires much more than top-down causation. Volition, on the other hand, is more readily apparent to ourselves. Basically, it is the idea that when I move my hand, I am causing the muscles to contract, etc.; rather than my hand moving because of an ancient series of events, and the thought "I am moving my hand" being drug along after. Top-down causation is the process by which "moving my hand" actually moves my hand.
Within a Newtonian paradigm, there is really no room for top-down causation. Any apparent "TDC" can be dissolved with an appeal to a larger system. A bouncing ball moving "ball particles" can be explained by the history of effects on the individual particles, and moving you hand can be explained by a chain of forces extending outside even your own head. And thus the appeal to quantum mechanics: with the 'wiggle room' they create, there is now more than one possible outcome of a closed system, and so there must be space for volition, right?
The problem is, the model of quantum mechanics is just as immune to manipulation as the Newtonian model. There is no way for a particle to 'choose' to be at one location over another. It is truly and utterly random, not even a chaos theory sort of 'random' (which isn't really random). No level of complexity above the quantum level (including the mind) has any effect on where the particle appears, only that it does.
Schrodinger's box has always been an interesting thought experiment about the absurdities of quantum mechanics when applied to the macro level. (A cat is in a box containing a vial of poison gas, controlled by a quantum switch. Upon observing the box, the poison gas is either released or not released, but it can be either at every possible point of observation, and so the cat is both alive and dead, or alive/dead/alive/dead, or some such thing). If a theory of TDC resorts to activity at the quantum level to explain measurable results at the macro level (the level of hands and such), then we in fact become walking, talking skinner boxes. If volition acts on the quantum level, then that quantum particle affects an electron, which affects an atom, then neuron, and finally muscle to move the whole hand, then the very act of looking at my hand will reveal it to be at any one of all possible positions (of which I have no control over). I will, in fact, have a cloud of 'handness' with varying probabilities of my hand being located in that region at any one time. Slightly counter-intuitive.
First, volition. The notion of free will has become such a burdened term that arguing for its existence requires much more than top-down causation. Volition, on the other hand, is more readily apparent to ourselves. Basically, it is the idea that when I move my hand, I am causing the muscles to contract, etc.; rather than my hand moving because of an ancient series of events, and the thought "I am moving my hand" being drug along after. Top-down causation is the process by which "moving my hand" actually moves my hand.
Within a Newtonian paradigm, there is really no room for top-down causation. Any apparent "TDC" can be dissolved with an appeal to a larger system. A bouncing ball moving "ball particles" can be explained by the history of effects on the individual particles, and moving you hand can be explained by a chain of forces extending outside even your own head. And thus the appeal to quantum mechanics: with the 'wiggle room' they create, there is now more than one possible outcome of a closed system, and so there must be space for volition, right?
The problem is, the model of quantum mechanics is just as immune to manipulation as the Newtonian model. There is no way for a particle to 'choose' to be at one location over another. It is truly and utterly random, not even a chaos theory sort of 'random' (which isn't really random). No level of complexity above the quantum level (including the mind) has any effect on where the particle appears, only that it does.
Schrodinger's box has always been an interesting thought experiment about the absurdities of quantum mechanics when applied to the macro level. (A cat is in a box containing a vial of poison gas, controlled by a quantum switch. Upon observing the box, the poison gas is either released or not released, but it can be either at every possible point of observation, and so the cat is both alive and dead, or alive/dead/alive/dead, or some such thing). If a theory of TDC resorts to activity at the quantum level to explain measurable results at the macro level (the level of hands and such), then we in fact become walking, talking skinner boxes. If volition acts on the quantum level, then that quantum particle affects an electron, which affects an atom, then neuron, and finally muscle to move the whole hand, then the very act of looking at my hand will reveal it to be at any one of all possible positions (of which I have no control over). I will, in fact, have a cloud of 'handness' with varying probabilities of my hand being located in that region at any one time. Slightly counter-intuitive.
Comments