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Originally Posted by HarryT
Rizla, as a (former) professional physicist myself, I have to say that this guy sounds like a kook. Quantum mechanics works according to the laws of probability; consciousness ain't a part of "the rules". I really have no wish to read crackpot books about things that I already understand.
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That's up to you if you don't wish to entertain new ideas.
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Robert Paul Lanza is an American medical doctor, scientist, Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT)[1] and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
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In addition, the author has been in the fore-front of stem-cell research. He's hardly a "kook" as you so colorfully described him.
Now, I said I would try to read and describe the chapter pertinent to the double-slit experiments which seem to be the crux of this discussion and the book. The question is "Does the act of knowing (consciousness) collapse the wave function, or is it a side-effect of the measuring apparatus?" The author describes three experiments that he says proves that it is the act of knowing that causes the collapse. Unfortunately I don't think I can do his explanations justice.
However, as I understand it, I think the following link demonstrates a similar point as the author's:
After a Short Delay, Quantum Mechanics Becomes Even Weirder
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The results, reported this week in Science, prove that the photon does not decide whether to behave like a particle or a wave when it hits the first beam splitter, Roch says. Rather, the experimenter decides only later, when he decides whether to put in the second beam splitter. In a sense, at that moment, he chooses his reality.
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Also, this link references it:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/...their-observer
Anyway, I recommend Biocentrism to readers with open and inquiring minds. It's not perfect, but it will make you think. Don't be put off by the book's detractors who dismiss it as "crackpot." I suspect that their understanding of quantum mechanics is not as complete as they like to think.