Collapse of the Ontological Gradient

Article
Open Access
by Ted Dace1
1 An independent scholar and author of Escape from Quantopia (Iff Books, 2014) (Kansas City, Missouri, USA)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/24/8
Received: July 23, 2019 / Accepted: August 28, 2019 / Published: January 25, 2020

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Abstract

Because an unmeasured quantum system consists of information — neither tangible existence nor its complete absence — no property can be assigned a definite value, only a range of likely values should it be measured. The instantaneous transition from information to matter establishes a gradient between being and not-being. A quantum system enters a determinate state in a particular moment (being) until this moment is past (not-being), at which point the system resumes its default state as an evolving superposition of potential values of properties, neither strictly being nor not-being. Like a “self-organized” chemical system that derives energy from breaking down environmental gradients, a quantum system derives information from breaking down the ontological gradient. An organism is a body in the context of energy and a mind in the context of information.Keywords: Mind-body problem, Measurement problem, Complementarity, Implicate order, Memory, Nonequilibrium thermodynamics

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Dace, Ted (2020) Collapse of the Ontological Gradient. Philosophy and Cosmology, Volume 24, 70-82. https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/24/8
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