IngentaConnect QUANTUM REALITY, THE EMERGENCE OF COMPLEX ORDER FROM VIRTUAL STAT...

Author: Schäfer, Lothar¹

Source: Zygon, Volume 41, Number 3, September 2006 , pp. 505-532(28)

Abstract:

I review some characteristic aspects of quantum reality and make the connection to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's vision and a generally new quantum perspective of biological evolution. The quantum phenomena make it possible to conclude that the basis of the material world is nonmaterial; that the nature of reality is that of an indivisible wholeness; and that elementary particles possess aspects of consciousness in a rudimentary way. The quantum perspective of evolution makes it possible to conclude that the emergence of complex order in the biosphere is not from nothing (ex nihilo) but by the actualization of virtual quantum states—that is, by actualizing empty states which are part of the mathematical structure of material systems, representing a logical order that is not real in a material sense but, predetermined by system conditions, has the potential to become real in quantum jumps. I show how the existence of virtual states makes it possible to suggest that a transcendent reality underlies the visible order of the world and is immanent to it; and constantly new forms evolve from it.

Keywords: cosmic consciousness; emergence of complexity; quantum perspective of evolution; quantum reality; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin; transcendent order; virtual state actualization; virtual states

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00755.x

Affiliations: 1: Edgar Wertheim Distinguished Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701;, Email: schafer@uark.edu.

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QUANTUM REALITY, THE EMERGENCE OF COMPLEX ORDER FROM VIRTUAL STATES, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE UNIVERSE