Quantum structure in cognition

The broader scope of our investigations is the search for the way in which concepts and their combinations carry and influence meaning and what this implies for human thought. More specifically, we examine the use of the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics as a modeling instrument and propose a general mathematical modeling scheme for the combinations of concepts. We point out that quantum mechanical principles, such as superposition and interference, are at the origin of specific effects in cognition related to concept combinations, such as the guppy effect and the overextension and underextension of membership weights of items. We work out a concrete quantum mechanical model for a large set of experimental data of membership weights with overextension and underextension of items with respect to the conjunction and disjunction of pairs of concepts, and show that no classical model is possible for these data. We put forward an explanation by linking the presence of quantum aspects that model concept combinations to the basic process of concept formation. We investigate the implications of our quantum modeling scheme for the structure of human thought, and show the presence of a two-layer structure consisting of a classical logical layer and a quantum conceptual layer. We consider connections between our findings and phenomena such as the disjunction effect and the conjunction fallacy in decision theory, violations of the sure thing principle, and the Allais and Elsberg paradoxes in economics.     

Integral Spirituality, Deep Science, and Ecological Awareness

There is a growing understanding that addressing the global crisis facing humanity will require new methods for knowing, understanding, and valuing the world. Narrow, disciplinary, and reductionist perceptions of reality are proving inadequate for addressing the complex, interconnected problems of the current age. The pervasive Cartesian worldview, which is based on the metaphor of the universe as a machine, promotes fragmentation in our thinking and our perception of the cosmos. This divisive, compartmentalized thinking fosters alienation and self‐focused behavior. I aim to show in this essay that healing the fragmentation that is at the root of the current world crises requires an integrated epistemology that embraces both the rational knowledge of scientific empiricism and the inner knowledge of spiritual experience. This “deep science” transcends the illusion of separateness to discern the unity, the unbroken wholeness, that underlies the diverse forms of the universe. Our perception of connectedness, of our integral place in the web of life, emerges as an attribute of our connection with the eternal, beatific source of all existence. This awakened spiritual vision “widens our circle of understanding and compassion, to embrace all living creatures in the whole of nature” (Einstein, quoted in Goldstein [1976] 1987). Our behavior, as it emerges naturally out of our perception of the sacredness of the natural world, will naturally embody love and respect for all life forms. This vision promotes the healing of our long‐standing alienation from the natural world and offers hope for renewal in the midst of widespread cultural deterioration and environmental destruction.     

Creation and the Symbiosis of Science and Judaism

It seems to me that the critical questions that science and natural philosophy raise for Jewish theology are the following: Does God evolve? Does the universe have or even need an interpretation, specifically with reference to the fact that most of the universe most of the time is uninhabitable, and there may be many more than one universe? Does the universe need a beginning? What is distinctive about human consciousness, intelligence, and ethics in the light of evidence for evolution from all of the life sciences? Finally, will both life and the universe end? These questions are not only modern. They contain all the primary issues that have dominated rabbinic thought. That agenda can be summarized in six topics: How should we model what we believe about (1) God, (2) the world, and (3) the human being; and how should we understand the relations between them, that is, between (4) God and the world (or, creation), (5) God and the human (or, revelation), and (6) the human and the world (or, redemption)? In this paper I focus on the fourth issue, creation. My answer is presented in detail in my Judaism and the Doctrine of Creation(Samuelson 1994). Here I shall summarize my conclusions there concerning science, Jewish texts, and the correlation between them.     

Anticipating ankle inversion perturbations during a single-leg drop landing alters ankle joint and impact kinetics

Anticipatory responses to inversion perturbations can prevent an accurate assessment of lateral ankle sprain mechanics when using injury simulations. Despite recent evidence of the anticipatory motor control strategies utilized during inversion perturbations, kinetic compensations during anticipated inversion perturbations are currently unknown. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the influence of anticipation to an inversion perturbation during a single-leg drop landing on ankle joint and impact kinetics. Fifteen young adults with no lateral ankle sprain history completed unanticipated and anticipated single-leg drop landings onto a 25° laterally inclined platform from a height of 30 cm. One-dimensional statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was used to analyze net ankle moments and ground reaction forces (GRF) during the first 150 ms post-landing, while peak GRFs, time to peak GRF, peak and average loading rates were compared using a dependent samples t-test (p ≤ 0.05). Results from the SPM analysis revealed significantly greater plantar flexion moment from 58 to 83 ms post-landing (p = 0.004; d = 0.64–0.77), inversion moment from 89 to 91 ms post-landing (p = 0.050; d = 0.58–0.60), and medial GRF from 62 to 97 ms post-landing (p < 0.001; d = 1.00–2.39) during the unanticipated landing condition. Moreover, significantly greater peak plantarflexion (p < 0.001; d = 1.10) and peak inversion moment (p = 0.007; d = 0.94), as well as greater peak (p = 0.002; d = 1.03) and average (p = 0.042; d = 0.66) medial loading rates, were found during the unanticipated landing condition. Our findings suggest alterations to ankle joint and impact kinetics occur during a single-leg drop landing when inversion perturbations are anticipated. Researchers and practitioners using drop-landings onto a tilted surface to assess lateral ankle sprain injury risk should consider implementing protocols that mitigate anticipatory responses.     

Lower limb mechanical asymmetry during repeated treadmill sprints

Stride mechanical imbalances between the lower limbs may be detrimental to performance and/or increase injury risks. This study describes the time course and magnitude of asymmetries in running mechanical variables during repeated treadmill sprints and examines whether inter-limb differences in sprinting mechanics increase with fatigue. Thirteen non-injured male athletes performed five 5-s sprints with 25-s recovery on an instrumented treadmill, allowing the continuous (step-by-step) measurement of running kinetics/kinematics and spring-mass characteristics calculation. For each variable, bilateral leg asymmetry (BLA%) between the left and the right leg was defined as: {[(high value − low value)/low value] × 100}. BLA% for propulsive power and horizontal forces averaged ∼12–13%, while lower values occurred for step-averaged values of running velocity, resultant and vertical forces (all ∼4%). For all sprints, kinematic BLA% ranged from 1.6 ± 1.0% (swing time) to 9.0 ± 5.3% (aerial time). BLA% for vertical and leg stiffness was 6.4 ± 4.9% and 7.6 ± 3.6%, respectively. While distance covered decreased across repetitions (P < 0.05), there was no significant interaction between sprint repetitions and leg side for any of the mechanical variables studied (all P > 0.05). Although inter-limb differences were observed for many running kinetics/kinematics and spring-mass characteristics during repeated treadmill sprints, the lack of interaction between sprint repetitions and leg side suggests that lower limbs fatigued at a similar rate.     

Infinity in Ontology and Mind

Two fundamental categories of any ontology are the category of objects and the category of universals. We discuss the question whether either of these categories can be infinite or not. In the category of objects, the subcategory of physical objects is examined within the context of different cosmological theories regarding the different kinds of fundamental objects in the universe. Abstract objects are discussed in terms of sets and the intensional objects of conceptual realism. The category of universals is discussed in terms of the three major theories of universals: nominalism, realism, and conceptualism. The finitude of mind pertains only to conceptualism. We consider the question of whether or not this finitude precludes impredicative concept formation. An explication of potential infinity, especially as applied to concepts and expressions, is given. We also briefly discuss a logic of plural objects, or groups of single objects (individuals), which is based on Bertrand Russell’s (1903, The principles of mathematics, 2nd edn. (1938). Norton & Co, NY) notion of a class as many. The universal class as many does not exist in this logic if there are two or more single objects; but the issue is undecided if there is just one individual. We note that adding plural objects (groups) to an ontology with a countable infinity of individuals (single objects) does not generate an uncountable infinity of classes as many.

经典力学革命中的概念图式变化

经典力学革命中起核心作用的是运动概念的变化。亚里士多德力学把运动理解成位移,这种运动概念与因果解释图式一起,限定了力学解释的基本特征。为了解决抛体问题而引入的冲力理论是一个过渡,伽利略在用冲力理论解释自由落体运动时改变了思考问题的方向,转向新的运动概念——运动就是瞬时运动。这个概念结合力学解释的因果图式预告了惯性定律。     

QUANTUM MECHANICS,TIME, AND THEOLOGY: INDEFINITE CAUSAL ORDER AND A NEW APPROACH TO SALVATION

Quantum mechanics has recently indicated that, at the fundamental level, temporal order is not fixed. This phenomenon, termed Indefinite Causal Order, is yet to receive metaphysical or theological engagement. We examine Indefinite Causal Order, particularly as it emerges in a 2018 photonic experiment. In this experiment, two operations A and B were shown to be in a superposition with regard to their causal order. Essentially, time, intuitively understood as fixed, flowing, and fundamental, becomes fuzzy. We argue that if Indefinite Causal Order is true, this is good evidence in favor of a B-theory of time, though such a B-theory requires modification. We then turn to theology, suggesting that a B-theoretic temporal ontology invites serious reconsideration of the doctrine of salvation. This paper concludes that the best explanation for salvation given a B-theory is mind-dependent salvific becoming, a type of psychological soteriological change that occurs through downward causation.     

SCIENCE'S CONCEPTION OF HUMAN BEINGS AS A BASIS FOR MORAL THEORY

Abstract. Niels Bohr stated, and Werner Heisenberg reiterated, that “in the great drama of existence we ourselves are both actors and spectators.” Their emphasis stems from the fact that the entry of human beings into physics as actors constitutes the most fundamental philosophical departure of twentieth‐century basic physics from its eighteenth‐ and nineteenth‐century forerunners. Those earlier theories claimed that our human conscious thoughts are mere witnesses to, or by‐products of, essentially mechanically determined brain processes. In stark contrast, certain conscious decisions that are made by human beings, but that are not determined by any known law, statistical or otherwise, enter irreducibly into orthodox contemporary physical theory. These actions are required to counteract effects of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which ordains that the physically described process of nature, acting alone, produces not a physical world of the kind we experience but rather a continuous smear of potential possible worlds of the kind we know. This contradiction between theory and experience is resolved in orthodox contemporary physical theory by bringing certain effects of our conscious human choices into the dynamics in essentially the way that we intuitively feel that our conscious intentions affect the physical world, namely, via the effects of our intentional efforts on our physically described bodies. The moral implications of this profound change in physics are discussed.