Society for Scientific Exploration
Annual Meetings

31 May — 2 June 2007, East Lansing, Michigan

Presentation Title: Toward A Quantum Mechanical Interpretation of Collective Consciousness

Abstract: This talk outlines a quantum mechanical theory and model that explains how collective human thought can influence at a distance both physical systems and human behavior. For many years, physicists have debated the nature of reality given the paradoxes that exist between the quantum and classical realms. Their debates have been driven by the understanding that consciousness — as expressed through the act of observation — can apparently “force” physical objects to manifest into physical reality despite a prior existence as a less-than-physical probability, at least on the quantum level. There is no broadly accepted reason why this process should break down at the macro level experienced by human society. More recently, certain social scientists have amassed experimental evidence that suggests that some physical and social phenomena may be mediated by quantum-level processes associated with the collective thoughts of large groups. Since these concerns address the meaning of human thought — and thus what it means to be a sentient human race — the debates have relevance to the social sciences. Here, explicit connections between the theory of quantum mechanics and collective consciousness are developed, and a quantum mechanical interpretation of collective consciousness is proposed that bridges the gap between physics and the social sciences. More specifically, the processes of constructive and destructive interference that result from the principle of superposition can lead to process-related wave packets originating with the collective thoughts of groups. The geographical spread of these process-related wave packets depends on Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle as expressed in terms of wave numbers and position. The amplitude of these wave packets can be expressed as a function of the number of individuals engaged in parallel collective human thought. These process-related wave packets can combine with process-related wave packets elsewhere through constructive interference, thereby affecting both physical and human behavioral systems. Following evidence suggested by the experimental literature, examples of systems that are influenced by collective human thought can be physical systems such as random number generators that operate according to truly random and quantum processes as well as human behavioral systems that are defined in terms of specific forms of human activity. The existence of a theory and model based on quantum mechanics that potentially explains the mediating influences of collective human thought on physical and social systems adds an important new element to the extant literature that has already sought to provide statistical evidence of such phenomena. The implications of these debates to the social sciences are profound, since relevant issues expose the core of human psychology and all collective human activity. The existence of quantum processes that extend in influence to the macro level also suggests the possibility of generalizing the theory of quantum mechanics such that the quantum and macro realms are conceptually unified.