Is The Human Mind Linked To Quantum Mechanics?

 

A physicist has suggested a method to test the limits of quantum mechanics, by applying it to the human mind.

 

The idea is based on “spooky action at a distance” or quantum entanglement. This is the idea that two particles can share properties, but this only becomes obvious when they are measured. A hundred years ago, Einstein thought this wasn’t possible, and researchers have been looking for ways to prove him wrong ever since.

 

To test quantum entanglement, researcher John Bell came up with a thought experiment in 1964 to send one of a pair of particles to a particular location, A, and another to location B. A device at each location would calculate a precise property of the particles, their spin, using a random number generator to select positive or negative spin.

 

If the quantities correlated (the particles were found to have the same spin at each location), then quantum entanglement could be verified. Hence the word “spooky”, because they seem to influence each other without interacting.

 

Lucien Hardy from the Perimeter Institute in Canada has suggested an advancement on the theory. He proposed that the calculations of two particles, A and B, can relate to the human mind. He wonders if the mind functions on the immaterial world and plays a part in quantum mechanics.

 

“[French philosopher Rene] Descartes state this mind-matter duality, [where] the mind is outside of regular physics and interferes on the physical world,” Hardy told, reported New Scientist.

 

To test this, he suggests having two groups of 100 people separated by 100 kilometers (60 miles). Each would be hooked up to an EEG machine, and the signals from the headsets would change the properties of the devices at each location before the particles reached.

 

If the conclusions agreed with the Bell tests, that supports quantum theory. If it doesn’t, it proposes the measurements at each location are being affected by something past standard physics – possibly the human mind.

 

“The radical possibility we wish to study is that, when humans are used to choose the settings, we might then expect to see a violation of Quantum Theory,” Hardy writes in his paper. “Such a result, while very improbable, would be extremely significant for our understanding of the world.”

 

Quantum entanglement is tremendously useful, so understanding it is important. Quantum computing, for example, depend upon entanglement, with “qubits” – quantum bits – allowing more data to be stored in a smaller space.

 

Lately, quantum communication has come to the fore using the similar principle. If someone intercepts a transmission, the particles are altered on arrival at their destination, meaning information can be severely encrypted.

 

Whether the human mind also has a part to play, well, that’s another think coming.