The key to the measurement problem is the entity at the heart of Everett's formulation, the state of the memory, defined as the record of observations. In humans, the integrated synthesis defines the perceptual reality, a projective, three-dimensional representation of the world. This 'world hologram' is the conscious point of view, the mind in Lockwood's interpretation, the 'phenomenal perspective'. As Everett demonstrates, the collapse dynamics operates only judged by the state of the memory; the physical observer remains in a superposed (...) state. An operational mind-body property dualism is defined. This field of information is multiply instantiated in the many worlds of the unitary wave function. As these are superposed and coincident, the net result is a single world hologram. The physical frame of reference on this view is the superposition of the class of instantiating worlds, a second-logical-type phenomenon. By definition determinate only where defined by observations, this is the physical ontology of Everett's relative state. Collapse on observation is inherent. The evidence is the retrodiction of the holographic universe. This is the cosmology of the relative state. As it is determinate solely where defined by the world hologram that delineates the outer boundary, entropy is defined solely by this surface. The quasi-classical world is the cosmology in the absolute state. The incompatible dynamics of quantum mechanics operate in these two different types of physical frames of reference. The linear dynamics is the time evolution of the quasi-classical worlds. On observation, judged by the state of the world hologram, the class of instantiating worlds is redefined, becoming the class of worlds in which the observed outcome occurred. Collapse effectively operates. The holographic universe of the mind updates. The dynamics operate at different levels of logical type. The measurement problem is a category error. (shrink)

Barbour shows that time does not exist in the physical world, and similar conclusions are reached by others such as Deutsch, Davies and Woodward. Every possible configuration of a physical environment simply exists in the universe. The system is objectively static. Observation, however, is an inherently transtemporal phenomenon, involving actual or effective change of the configuration, collapse. Since, in a static environment, all possible configurations exist, transtemporal reality is of the logical type of a movie. The frame of a movie (...) film is of one logical type, an element of a set of frames, the movie, itself of a second logical type. In a static no-collapse universe, the configurations are of the first logical type, transtemporal reality of the second. To run, the movie requires iteration, a third logical type. Phenomenal consciousness is subjectively experienced as of this third logical type with regard to physical configurations. Everett's formulation clearly describes the transtemporal reality of an observer, which follows the physical in the linear dynamics, but departs from it on observation, giving rise to the the appearance of collapse, and the alternation of dynamics defined in the standard von Neumann-Dirac formulation. Since there is no physical collapse, his formulation is disputed. Given an iterator of the third logical type, the appearance of collapse is simply evidence of iteration. Chalmers demonstrates that phenomenal consciousness is of this logical type, an emergent property of the unitary system as a whole. Given an iterative function of this nature, one contextual to the physical configurations, paradoxes of time are resolved. Subjectively, meaning from the perspective of the iterative process, time passes in an objectively static universe, and the appearance of collapse is effected. (shrink)

The nature and topology of time remains an open question in philosophy, both tensed and tenseless concepts of time appear to have merit. A concept of time including both kinds of time evolution of physical systems in quantum mechanics subsumes the properties of both notions. The linear dynamics defines the universe probabilistically throughout space-time, and can be seen as the definition of a block universe. The collapse dynamics is the time evolution of the linear dynamics, and is thus of different (...) logical type to the linear dynamics. These two different kinds of time evolution are respectively tensed and tenseless. Ascribing tensed semantics to the collapse dynamics is problematic in the light of special relativity, but this difficulty does not apply to a relational quantum mechanics. In this context, while the linear dynamics is the time evolution of the universe objectively, the collapse dynamics is the time evolution of the universe subjectively, applying solely in the functional frame of reference of the observer. (shrink)

A perspective on Everett's relative state formulation is proposed, leading to a simple relational quantum mechanics. There are inevitably a large number of different versions of the world in which a specific observer could exist, and in the universe of the unitary wave function they are all existing and coincident. If these different versions of the world are superposed, the effective physical environment in the functional frame of reference of this observer would be highly indeterminate, since every possible variation of (...) the world is included; only where observed by the observer is this world determinate, as in Rovelli's Relational Quantum Mechanics. Although the identity of the observer as a physical body does not fit this concept, it applies inevitably to the functional identity of an observer as depicted by Everett, the state of the memory defining the record of observations. In this relativised quantum mechanics the collapse dynamics applies only to the functional frame of reference of the observer and raises no incompatibility with the linear dynamics. (shrink)

Mitra demonstrates that memory erasure can cause the observer to end up in a different sector of the multiverse with a different destiny, events in the future remote to any possible influence of the observer having radically different probabilities. The concept only applies to an observer defined by a structure of information, so cannot apply to the physical bodies of human observers. However, Everett defines the functional identity of the observer as the contents of the memory, a structure of information, (...) thus in principle Mitra's effect would apply. Here it is shown that not only is this very minimal definition of the observer entirely in accord with the subjective experience of identity of human observers, it is also the only possible definition of a transtemporal observer in a no-collapse universe. With respect to human observers, selective elimination of data is not possible due to the distributed manner in which information is stored in the neural network of the brain, but addition of data works on exactly the same principle. Thus, while it would not be possible to alter the destiny of the observer to reduce the probability of unwanted events to background probability, as in the example Mitra uses to demonstrate the principle, it would be possible to increase the probability of desired events. This would appear to verify certain aspects of folklore which otherwise appear entirely mythical and imaginary. (shrink)

Objectively, time does not pass, physics reveals no such phenomenon. While subjectively we find ourselves at a specific point in time, 'now', and we appear to pass from moment to moment, physics can accommodate neither of these concepts, thus there is no explanation of subjective transtemporal reality, or how an observation could possibly be made. A solution to the puzzle is proposed based on an analysis of the logical type of the system required to explain such subjective experience. Relativity requires (...) that we consider the dimension of time on a par with the spatial dimensions, thus making a block universe inevitable. The concept of change can be recovered by considering a sequence of definitions of the block universe, and thus the passage of time can be considered to be the change of this definition, resulting in a sequence of block universes as transtemporal reality. However, the unitary wave function must subsume all possible block universes, all possibilities exist 'already', thus there is no becoming. As Barbour explains, each moment in time is a complete definition of the state of the whole four-dimensional universe, the sequence of states being static like the frames of a movie on the film. Since nothing passes from moment to moment it appears impossible that there could be any such thing as time that passes; this would require something of different logical type to the moments to account for such a phenomenon, and the moments are all that exist. What would be required is something that is to the moments as the projector is to the movie, something that contains all the moments and iterates the sequence. Clearly only the unitary system as a whole contains all the moments of any given sequence. Additionally, the only possible expression of the necessary logical type for an iterator is an emergent property of the system as a whole; only the system as a whole is of the correct logical type to change the functional frame of reference from one block universe to another, giving rise to the appearance of collapse described by Everett. Objectively this transtemporal process is the collapse dynamics, subjectively it is phenomenal consciousness passing through time. (shrink)