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There is no absolute physical world independent of observation

Posted on 2025-07-04 by Hans Busstra, MA

There is no absolute physical world independent of observation

Seeing | Quantum Physics | 2025-07-04

Hans Busstra, MA

Matthew Leifer, PhD

Lidia del Rio, PhD

Hans Busstra and Dr. Lídia del Rio talk to Dr. Matthew Leifer, Assistant Professor of Physics at Chapman University, about the epistemic interpretation of quantum mechanics. Classically, when physicists call themselves ‘realists’ they mean that we should assume that a physical, observer-independent universe is fundamental. But if this counts as realism, anti-realism is perhaps the more respectable position. Leifer points, for instance, to ‘Bell-Wigner mashups’: thought-experiments that entangle different observers to arrive at disturbing consequences; for instance, that there is no ‘absoluteness of facts’ for all observers, in a classical sense.

Our previous video on the Frauchiger-Renner thought-experiment with Lídia del Rio:

Selected publications by Matthew Leifer:

Leifer, Matthew S. “Uncertainty from the Aharonov–Vaidman identity.” Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations, vol. 10, pp. 373–397, 2023. PDF/Abstract (arXiv) mattleifer.info+12mattleifer.info+12arxiv.org+12

Catani, Lorenzo; Leifer, Matthew S. “A mathematical framework for operational fine tunings.” Quantum, vol. 7, article 948, 16 Mar 2023. PDF/DOI/ArXiv mattleifer.info+1quantum-journal.org+1

Catani, Lorenzo; Leifer, Matthew S.; Scala, Giovanni; Schmid, David; Spekkens, Robert W. “What is nonclassical about uncertainty relations?” Physical Review Letters, vol. 129, iss. 24, 2022. Abstract (via arXiv) chapman.edu+8arxiv.org+8mattleifer.info+8

Leifer, Matthew S.; Duarte, Cristhiano. “Noncontextuality inequalities from antidistinguishability.” Physical Review A, vol. 101, iss. 6, p. 062113, 2020. PDF/Abstract (arXiv) fetzer-franklin-fund.org+2mattleifer.info+2arxiv.org+2

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
3:06 What is classicality?
5:56 Classical information vs quantum information
11:42 Experimental metaphysics
14:18 Metaphysical implications of Bell’s work
18:42 What is realism?
21:51 Realism vs anti-realism
25:58 The internal realism of theories
29:51 How the public understands quantum mechanics
32:14 Interpreting quantum mechanics is like tightrope walking
34:51 On naive realism
38:41 How would you define physicalism?
44:33 On mind and consciousness
48:19 Panpsychists have physics-envy
49:25 It’s unclear what the Copenhagen interpretation is…
56:54 On the quantum-classical cut
1:09:29 Craziness derived from sensible premises
1:14:50 Why ‘for all practical purposes’ is not a solution
1:21:44 On Bell-Wigner mashups
1:30:37 What constitutes an observer?
1:33:53 Matt on the meaning of quantum mechanics and the limits of physics.

Over 2000 cases of past-life memories, NDE’s and OBE’s

Posted on 2025-06-20 by Natalia Vorontsova, MA

Over 2000 cases of past-life memories, NDE’s and OBE’s

Seeing | Psychology | 2025-06-20

Natalia Vorontsova, MA

Prof. Philip Cozzolino, PhD

In this interview, Dr. Philip Cozzolino, an associate professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia, talks with Natalia Vorontsova about his research results and methods for dealing with the fear of death. He also delves into intriguing reincarnation-like cases and past-life memories in children, as well as the metaphysical implications of his research.

Why the quantum state only exists in our mind

Posted on 2025-06-062025-06-06 by Hans Busstra, MA

Why the quantum state only exists in our mind

Seeing | Foundations of Physics | 2025-06-06

Hans Busstra, MA

Lidia del Rio, PhD

David Schmid, PhD

Dr. David Schmid, Dr. Lídia Del Rio and Hans Busstra explore a metaphysical shift that’s happening in the foundations of physics: the wave function is no longer regarded as something real, but just as a description of what we know about the world. In philosophical terms: the wave function is not ontic, but epistemic. And in more popular terms: the multiverse is science fiction, resting on a too-literal interpretation of a piece of mathematics called the Schrödinger equation.

Our previous video with Dr. Del Rio on the Frauchiger-Renner thought experiment:

Three other ‘epistemicists’, who’ve just been awarded a prestigious prize in the foundations of physics:

Chapters marks:

00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:30 — When did it dawn on you that QM is weird?
00:05:54 — The quantum phenomena that still scare David
00:07:53 — How to account for non-locality
00:12:19 — “What are the symbols representing?”
00:15:34 — What is the wavefunction really?
00:17:00 — “The standard view we are taught in the classroom…”
00:19:23 — Classically explaining quantum
00:20:23 — On Wheeler’s delayed choice experiment
00:28:38 — How to interpret the delayed choice experiment
00:32:56 — How can a single particle ‘know’ what’s going on at both paths?
00:36:41 — Quantum phenomena that remain weird: contextuality
00:44:38 — What are the viable ontological explanations we have?
00:48:26 — Is there evidence for an epistemic interpretation?
00:52:56 — Understanding epistemic interpretations
00:57:28 — Are we in a new era of physics?
01:00:43 — Lídia on what constitutes measurement
01:04:36 — How relevant are these recent theoretical findings?
01:07:36 — Experiments with AI as an observer?
01:08:36 — David and Lídia on what consciousness is
01:13:51 — Closing thoughts

Relevant scientific work of Schmid and Del Rio:

Why interference phenomena do not capture the essence of quantum theory
L Catani, M Leifer, D Schmid, RW Spekkens
Quantum 7, 1119

A review and analysis of six extended Wigner’s friend arguments
D Schmid, Y Yīng, M Leifer
arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.16220

Guiding our interpretation of quantum theory by principles of causation and inference
D Schmid, Thesis, University of Waterloo
https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/items/7aed8173-684a-40af-bff5-e625f29fe810

Thought experiments in a quantum computer,
Nuriya Nurgalieva, Simon Mathis, Lídia del Rio, Renato Renner:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.06236

Biosemiotics: A new way to understand non-human consciousness

Posted on 2025-05-23 by Hans Busstra, MA

Biosemiotics: A new way to understand non-human consciousness

Seeing | Semiotics | 2025-05-23

Hans Busstra, MA

Yogi Hendlin, PhD

What if phenomenal consciousness, signs, communication, and interpretation are fundamental aspects of all living systems, whether or not we can detect brains? This is the departure point of biosemiotics, an interdisciplinary field that combines biology, semiotics (the study of signs and meaning), and philosophy. Environmental philosopher Dr. Yogi Hendlin is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biosemiotics and, in this conversation, Hans Busstra talks to him about the widespread meaning-making in nature. All living beings, from bacteria to plants to mammals, have an ‘Umwelt,’ a dashboard representation of the world. In a sense, biosemiotics states that our mind is in the world: we are embodied beings, and with every inhalation 50.000 microbes enter our body, and they communicate to us by influencing our microbiome.

DNA & neurons cannot explain life & consciousness

Posted on 2025-05-09 by Hans Busstra, MA

DNA & neurons cannot explain life & consciousness

Seeing | Neuroscience | 2025-05-09

Hans Busstra, MA

Bernardo Kastrup, PhD, PhD

Hans Busstra talks to Dr. Bernardo Kastrup about the groundbreaking work of Professor Michael Levin and Dr. Christof Koch. Levin’s research into bio-electric fields reveals that cellular networks use electrical signals not just for immediate physiological tasks, but to coordinate complex patterning and memory across tissues—suggesting a kind of distributed intelligence in living systems. Christof Koch, meanwhile, champions Integrated Information Theory (IIT), which proposes that consciousness is an intrinsic property of certain physical systems with high levels of causal interconnectivity. Both lines of inquiry challenge the traditional reductionist view that mind is merely an emergent byproduct of neural activity. Instead, they point to a more holistic, perhaps even fundamental, role for information and consciousness in nature. Though Levin and Koch make no explicit metaphysical claims in their work, their empirical findings and views are very much in line with analytic idealism.

Watch the full interviews with Dr. Christof Koch and Professor Michael Levin, which are discussed in this video, here:

For a more in depth analysis of IIT by Bernardo Kastrup:

In defense of Integrated Information Theory (IIT)

Science can no longer ignore unexplained facts of nature

Posted on 2025-04-25 by Natalia Vorontsova, MA

Science can no longer ignore unexplained facts of nature

Seeing | Parapsychology | 2025-04-25

Natalia Vorontsova, MA

Prof. Edward F. Kelly, PhD

Dr. Edward Kelly, a professor of experimental psychology, talks about his many years of study of a variety of psi and anomalous phenomena. In this interview with Natalia Vorontsova, he candidly shares how phenomenological evidence has led him to re-examine his metaphysical views on the nature of reality. Are our minds confined to our brains? Do we survive our biological death? Is mind primary to matter? Why should we take anomalous phenomena seriously? These are some of the topics covered in this conversation.

The quantum experiment that defies logic exactly 1/12th of the time

Posted on 2025-04-112025-04-11 by Hans Busstra, MA

The quantum experiment that defies logic exactly 1/12th of the time

Seeing | Quantum Physics | 2025-04-11

Hans Busstra, MA

Lidia del Rio, PhD

Physicist Dr. Lídia Del Rio, Essentia Foundation’s Research Fellow for Quantum Information Theory at the University of Zürich, explains to Hans Busstra one of the strangest quantum conundra confronting the foundations of physics: the Frauchiger-Renner (FR) thought experiment.

The sapient cosmos: Where physics, psychedelics and shamanism meet

Posted on 2025-03-282025-03-28 by Hans Busstra, MA

The sapient cosmos: Where physics, psychedelics and shamanism meet

Seeing | Metaphysics | 2025-03-28

Hans Busstra, MA

James Glattfelder, PhD

Hans Busstra interviews theoretical physicist and complexity scientist James Glattfelder on his new book, The Sapient Cosmos: What a modern-day synthesis of science and philosophy teaches us about the emergence of information, consciousness, and meaning, published by Essentia Foundation. Glattfelder makes a plea for ‘syncretic idealism’: a worldview that synthesises ancient idealist texts and mystical experiences with physics, complexity science and analytic idealism.

Is consciousness the final reality? Bernardo Kastrup answers questions from our audience

Posted on 2025-03-14 by Natalia Vorontsova, MA

Is consciousness the final reality? Bernardo Kastrup answers questions from our audience

Seeing | Metaphysics | 2025-03-14

Natalia Vorontsova, MA

Bernardo Kastrup, PhD, PhD

This interview explores the fundamental premises of Analytic Idealism. Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, known for developing this philosophical system, discusses the nature of consciousness, life, God, and AI with Natalia Vorontsova. All questions are based on input from our audience.

A deep dive into quantum non-locality and its implications

Posted on 2025-02-28 by Hans Busstra, MA

A deep dive into quantum non-locality and its implications

Seeing | Quantum Physics | 2025-02-28

Hans Busstra, MA

Prof. Sandu Popescu, PhD

Lidia del Rio, PhD

Hans Busstra, together with Essentia Foundation’s research fellow, physicist Lidia Del Rio, talks to Prof. Sandu Popescu about quantum non-locality. Popescu is Professor of Physics at the University of Bristol and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He did pioneering work in what became the field of quantum information and has won both the John Stuart Bell Prize and the Dirac Medal.

00:00 Intro
03:58 The superposition cannot be observed
04:17 We don’t observe the superposition itself
06:18 That you can compute something doesn’t mean you understand what’s going on
09:13 Sandu on the double slit
12:35 Einstein & History Of Quantum Mechanics
15:42 The EPR paper
18:57 Bell test
21:49 The obscurity of the EPR paper: Sandu on the history of physics
25:03 On the shut up and calculate era
28:31 Bell was 30 yrs dormant
28:57 The importance of Bell’s paper
30:59 Sandu explaining Bell
32:10 What Bell ruled out
36:29 What exactly is a no-go theorem?
40:30 The first Bell tests
42:21 Implications of Bell
51:31 Is metaphysics a matter of preference?
57:26 The counter intuitiveness of quantum mechanics
59:49 Sandu on the different interpretations of quantum mechanics
1:05:44 Time in quantum mechanics
1:08:04 Does ‘looking’ produce information?
1:11:17 Weak measurements, making measurements that are less disturbing…
1:13:51 Everything is a measurement
1:15:04 On the arrow of time in quantum mechanics
1:16:38 Schrödingers cat and past creation
1:22:34 Retro causality
1:24:31 Predicting rainbows: on the difference between quantum mechanics and classical physics
1:26:59 Is quantum mechanics related to parapsychological phenomena?
1:32:38 On consciousness causes collapse
1:37:05 Influencing random number generators?
1:41:02 Lidia’s ‘dreamed’ experiment
1:42:12 Has quantum mechanics changed your outlook on life?