The Physics Of Consciousness (Mike Witt)

The Physics Of Consciousness, Evan Harris Walker, Basic Books 330 pp.

I found the book browsing around in the science section around Borders.

Summary: The author is a well known physicist that ventures into a part of a science many shy away from. A new era of physics was born starting with Einstein and a few others which is called Quantum Mechanics. These theories were describing the atom and say very strange things about them and how atoms of matter work. For some reason, you, the observe is part of the equation It troubled Einstein which left him trying to disprove the theory, but it never worked out and every physicist today agrees it’s true. Walker analyzes the theory to go into a scientific investigation to apply it to our brains and what you will find will be surprising.

The audience is anybody interested in science and the philosophy of why we’re here.

The writing style is descriptive through a difficult science vocabulary. But in between breaks are taken when he talks of his girlfriend that died and uses a style associated with romance.

“Schrodinger’s equation also describes the diminutive world of the atom and the things of that remote microcosm.” (57)

Passages

“Instead, the photons seem to use telepath! Of course, they don’t use telepathy, but they do something that is, whatever it is, just that bizarre.” (129)

The noted this passage because the conclusion of an experiment and how shocking it is. What this is saying is in the experiment where they send two light beams through a filter, one will make or will not make it through first and the other one will always do the opposite, almost like their communication with each other.

“I feel like I’m two people… one of them is lousy… the other drinks water. There reference to feeling like two people is reminiscent of the near-death experiences that have to light in recent years.” (320)

This is what the author’s girlfriend said before she died. I’ve heard of many things about what people see when they come back and tell about it, but I never heard of feeling like two people, so I thought that was interesting.

What causes state vector collapse? Why is it that the observe causes state selection itself? What is it that makes the observer an observer? (280)

I chose this passage because these are questions that he poses after the results of an experiment concerning quantum mechanics. If we apply it to the position of the electron in the atom, it says they exists at all points simultaneously, but when we the observer try to measure it, it cause the system to collapse into one position.

The book was certainly very interesting and it starts a new science where many more things are there to be found and developed. It starts off with the history of physics and how it has progressed with many interesting facts. It provides insight using the theories to why we sleep and dream. The only problem I had with it is since the death of his girlfriend inspired him to write the book, in between parts of the story will randomly include diary passages and talk about memories of his girlfriend.