Abstract: This invited article is a response to the paper "Quantum Misuse in Psychic Literature," by Jack A. Mroczkowski and Alexis P. Malozemoff, published in this issue of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. Whereas I sympathize with Mroczkowski's and Malozemoff's cause and goals, and I recognize the problem that they attempted to tackle, I argue that their criticisms often overshot the mark and end up adding to the confusion. I address nince specific technical points that Mroczkowski and Malozemoff accused popular writers in the fields of health care and parapsychology of misunderstanding and misrepresenting. I argue that, by and large--and …
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Abstract: This invited article is a response to the paper "Quantum Misuse in Psychic Literature," by Jack A. Mroczkowski and Alexis P. Malozemoff, published in this issue of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. Whereas I sympathize with Mroczkowski's and Malozemoff's cause and goals, and I recognize the problem that they attempted to tackle, I argue that their criticisms often overshot the mark and end up adding to the confusion. I address nince specific technical points that Mroczkowski and Malozemoff accused popular writers in the fields of health care and parapsychology of misunderstanding and misrepresenting. I argue that, by and large--and contrary to Mroczkowski's and Malozemoff's claims--the statements made by these writers are often reasonable and generally consistent with the current state of play in foundations of quantum mechanics.
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"[The Journal of Near-Death Studies] is the only peer-reviewed scholarly journal (ISSN 0891-4494) devoted exclusively to the field of near-death studies. It is cross-disciplinary and published quarterly."
This article is part of the following collection of related materials.
Journal of Near-Death Studies
The Journal of Near-Death Studies is a scholarly peer-reviewed journal devoted to the field of near-death studies. It is published on a quarterly basis by the International Association for Near-Death Studies. The Journal began publication in 1982 under the name Anabiosis which was changed to its current title in 1986 with the start of Volume 6.
Abstract: In this paper, we address an unfortunate growing trend involving misuse of quantum physics in psychic and healing literature, including literature on near-death experiences. After a brief introduction to quantum physics, we provide examples and explanations of misuse. Such misuse encourages undue skepticism of what might otherwise be valuable reading. We conclude with recommendations to authors and publishers about how to guard against this problem.
Abstract: We provide a rejoinder to the responses of Chopra, Goswami, Kastrup, Radin, and van Lommel to our article "Quantum Misuse in Psychic Literature" that opens this journal issue. Our comments may be summarized in two main themes: These authors failed to recognize (a) how and why the von Neumann concept that only consciousness can collapse the quantum wavefunction has been largely rejected by physicists today and that quantum collapse is now understood to be able to occur without a conscious human observer, and (b) that their efforts to justify a universal consciousness on the basis of presently understood nonlocality are flawed. Also, in our view, from a quantum physics perspective the universe may be much less entangled and holistic than psi authors often assume. In conclusion, we contend that quantum misuse by psi authors remains a serious problem, undermining the credibility of psi research. We provide suggestions to help psi authors avoid this problem in the future.