Free Book: Henry Stapp's On The Nature of Things

On The Nature of Things: Human Presence in the World ofAtoms

Henry Stapp

According to this quantum mechanical understanding of reality, the very same laws that were originally introduced to account for the empirical findings in the domain of atomic physics explain also how a person’s mental intentions can affect that person’s bodily actions in the way that he or she mentally intends. The advance from nineteenth-century materialistic science to twentieth-century quantum physics thus converts our minds from slaves of our brains to partners with our brains.

A general recognition of this profound transformation of science’s image of man from mechanical automaton to “free” (from material coercion) agent constitutes a contribution of science to today’s troubled world that could in the end be far more important than its engineering offerings. For how we use our scientific knowledge depends on our values, and our values depend on our self-image.

The aim of this book is to convey to general reader’s, in simple but accurate terms, how the realistically interpreted orthodox quantum mechanics works, with emphasis on the potential impact of this science-based understanding of ourselves on the meaningfulness of our lives.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. The Origins of the Quantum Conception of Man

2. Waves, Particles, and Minds

3. The Measuring Process

4. Quantum Neuroscience

5. The Physical Effectiveness of Mental Intent

6. Reality and Spooky Action at a Distance

7. Backward-in-Time Causation?

8. Actual Past and Effective Past

9. The Libet “Free Will” Experiments

10. Questions and Answers about Minds

11. The Fundamentally Mental Character of Reality

12. Conclusions

Appendix 1: Proof that Information Must Be Transferred Faster Than Light

Appendix 2: Graphical Representation of the Argument

Appendix 3: Reply to Sam Harris on Free Will

Appendix 4: The Paranormal and the Principle of Sufficient Reason

Appendix 5: QZE and Environmental Decoherence

Appendix 6: The Quantum Conception of Man: a Talk

I hadn't heard of him before but I looked him up on Youtube and it was fascinating.  He was explaining how the trigger for the mechanical brain to think has to come from outside the mechanical brain and for the first time, I had a clear perception of how this works.  He's really good at explaining QM.