Yeah, if that's thethread I remember I rebutted part of Lanza's nonsense (there was a lot of it...).
The main problem is this: Quantum mechanics is hard and we don't really understand what it "really" means. There are some physicists - thankfully a clear minority - who hold wacky views on it. Some of them think that consciousness causes the collapse of the wave-function. I'd say that generally - and Deepak Chopra is an excellent example of the following mindset - I think they're working backwards from a conclusion they want to be true: They want consciousness to be special in the world at a fundamental level, so they often close themselves off from criticism of this view, largely by projecting via the claim of a "physicalist dogma" against them.
The main problem is this: Quantum mechanics is hard and we don't really understand what it "really" means. There are some physicists - thankfully a clear minority - who hold wacky views on it. Some of them think that consciousness causes the collapse of the wave-function. I'd say that generally - and Deepak Chopra is an excellent example of the following mindset - I think they're working backwards from a conclusion they want to be true: They want consciousness to be special in the world at a fundamental level, so they often close themselves off from criticism of this view, largely by projecting via the claim of a "physicalist dogma" against them.
