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From: mark@UNIX386.Convergent.COM (Mark Nudelman)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Robots & free will (was Re: The limitations of logic)
Keywords: quantum measurements
Message-ID: <226@UNIX386.Convergent.COM>
Date: 19 Jan 89 20:37:43 GMT
References: <3328@sdsu.UUCP> <43228@linus.UUCP> <539@uceng.UC.EDU> <3550@ingr.com>
Organization: Convergent Technologies, San Jose, CA
Lines: 30


   Crossposted to sci.physics from comp.ai:

In article <3550@ingr.com>, case@ingr.com (Bill Case) writes:
> I wonder what the quantum physics folks would think about the robots
> reaching a state of consciousness?  There is pretty universal agreement
> among quantum physicists that the universe "manifests" itself during 
> measurement, and one school of physicists believe that consciousness has a 
> profound effect on how matter appears.  So what happens when the robots are
> out there taking measurements and imposing their consciousness on "reality"?

I don't think that conscious machines has any real impact on quantum
physics.  In fact (books like _The Tao of Physics_ notwithstanding),
from the viewpoint of quantum physics, the important event is the
MEASUREMENT, which need not involve consciousness per se.  For example,
consider a measuring device which detects a quantum event and prints
the result on a piece of paper.  The device is left alone in a room
for ten years and then a physicist walks in and looks at the paper.
When did the measurement take place, when the machine recorded the data
or when the physicist looks at the paper?  My understanding (which may
certainly be incorrect) is that the measurement takes place when the
data is recorded.  I'm a little unsure about exactly what it is about
the event that makes it a measurement, but I think it has something to
do with the fact that the recording is permanent; that a non-reversible
change in the world has been made as a consequence of the quantum event.

Can some real physicist expand on or correct this?

Mark Nudelman
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