Free Will and Consciousness in the Multiverse

It is hard to interpret quantum mechanics. The most surprising, but also most parsimonious, interpretation is the many-worlds, or quantum-multiverse interpretation, implying a permanent coexistence of parallel realities. Could this perhaps be the appropriate interpretation of quantum mechanics? This book collects evidence for this interpretation, both from physics and from other fields, and proposes a subjectivist version of it, the clustered-minds multiverse. The author explores its implications through the lens of decision making and derives consequences for free will and consciousness. For example, free will can be implemented in the form of vectorial choices, as introduced in the book. He furthermore derives consequences for research in the social sciences, especially in psychology and economics.

Collects evidence for the multiverse interpretation of quantum mechanics Shows that the fabric of decisions is different from what is currently assumed Derives consequences for philosophy, decision sciences, psychology and economics

Auteur

Christian D. Schade holds the chair of Entrepreneurial and Behavioral Decision Making at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Furthermore, he is a Research Fellow at Wharton's Risk Management and Decision Processes Center (University of Pennsylvania). His research contributes to a better understanding of decision making in general and of entrepreneurial as well as innovative decision making. He is currently working on novel foundations and perspectives for the decision sciences. His research is mainly based on laboratory experiments, economic psychology and mathematical psychology, as well as quantum mechanics.

Contenu

Introduction: Developing a Multiverse View of Decision Making and Consciousness.- PART I: Setting the Stage for the Clustered-Minds Multiverse.- Why the Multiverse is the Most Parsimonious Way of Interpreting Quantum Mechanics.- Interdisciplinary Evidence for the Multiverse Including a Detailed Analysis of What Time Is.- How Different Versions of the Multiverse Interpretation Have Different Consequences for Free Will and Ontology: Developing the Concept of a Clustered-Minds Multiverse.- Part II: Answers Suggested by the Clustered-Minds Multiverse for Selected Questions in Philosophy.- Dualistic Idealism: No Supervenience of Consciousness on the Physical.- A Special Form of Free Will: Parallel Watching of Different 'Movies' but with Different Levels of Awareness.- Are we responsible for Our Decisions?.- PART III: Quantum Decision Making in the Multiverse as Vectorial Choice: Towards a Transformation of the Decisions Sciences.- General Framework, Objective Function and Probability.- Different Concepts of Utility.- Games and Markets.- PART IV: Consequences For Selected Psychological Phenomena and Experimental Research in the Social Sciences.- Repetition Compulsion and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies.- A Generalized Rosenthal Effect in Experimental Research in the Social Sciences.- Selected Consequences of the Clustered-Minds Multiverse for Weltanschauung and Scientific Research.