On the Work of Henry P. Stapp

quant-ph/0311158

Abstract For many years, Henry Stapp and I have been working separately and independently on mind-centered interpretations of quantum theory. In this review, I discuss his work and contrast it with my own. There is much that we agree on, both in the broad problems we have addressed and in some of the specific details of our analyses of neural physics, but ultimately we disagree fundamentally in our views on mind, matter, and quantum mechanics. In particular, I discuss our contrasting opinions about the nature and randomness of quantum events, about relativity theory, and about the many-minds idea. I also suggest that Stapp's theories are inadequately developed.

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Under the title Answer to Matthew J. Donald, Stapp placed on his web site an e-mail to Jeffrey Schwartz responding to this review. Reproduced here, together with the points to which he was responding and subsequent comments from us both, this has developed into a multi-stage debate.

Matthew J. Donald

The Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, Great Britain.

e-mail : mjd1014@cam.ac.uk

home page: http://people.bss.phy.cam.ac.uk/~mjd1014