Present status of the work of Jean Schneider
Observatoire
de Paris
92195 Meudon
France
Jean.Schneider@obspm.fr
update: 21 November 2022
home page
Time:
There is a dimension of time completely left
aside by physics: the becoming. Re-analyzed in modern terms,
the becoming is entangled with the production of a sign and it
deserves the name of `semiotic time'. The study of this dimension of
time offers an angle to investigate the Mind-body problem. It
reveals that the semiotic time must be discretized.
Quantum Mechanics:
The `interpretation' of Quantum
Mechanics, i.e. the understanding of the state-vector collapse in a
measurement process, is one of the major scientific problem of our
time. The Semiotic Interpretation of QM pushes further the
Von Neumann point of view that `experience only makes statements of
this type: an observer has made a certain observation; and never any
like this: a physical quantity has [I add: per se] a certain
value.)' (Math. Found. of QM p. 420 Princeton U. Press).
According
to this view, the state-vector collapse is not a physical
phenomenon, but only the production of a sign, in the sense
of Semiotics (the Science of Signs; see for instance the work of
C.S. Peirce). This production is impersonnal, not issued from some
psychological subject; thus it does not lead to some solipsism (on
the contrary, the Subject is an effect of signs).
The production
of a sign always takes some time (see above). Thus the state-vector
collapse cannot be instanteneous, a specific prediction of
the present model.
Mind-Body Problem:
On the one hand, Mind is not a
substance of some peculiar, subtle, type. It is Ex-pression.
On
the other hand, the Body is not some substantial matter. According
to the above interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, the properties of
the body are the result of state-vector collapses of several types,
i.e. the production of signs. In fact the universe of signs is very
rich: a sign can have a conceptual `value' (like in physics), or,
for instance, an affective value (like in many human behaviors). In
the latter case, the Semiotic Interpretation of QM gives a way to
understand how a mental representation can modify the state of the
body.
A formal tool: non-stratification
Some of these
ideas can hardly be expressed in plain language. A formal tool,
sometimes called `self-referential logic' (Fitch 1974 Elements of
Combinatory Logic, Yale Univ. Press), and which I prefer to call
`non-stratification' is used to describe the concepts I have
developed. It makes use of the idea that an item a can be
equal to formal relations R[a] of which a is an
element. An account of this tool can be found in some of the papers
below.
A first account of this work is published under the title `The Now, Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics' in the book ` Time, Now and Quantum Mechanics ' (M. Bitbol and E. Ruhnau Eds. ISBN 2-86332-152-8 Editions Frontieres, BP 33, 91192 Gif/Yvette Cedex, France).
A presentation was made at the Workshop on `Time, Physics and Psycho-analysis' (New-York, 7 December 1996) ` Time and the Mind/Body Problem: a Quantum Perspective ', published in American Imago, vol 54, p. 307, 1997.
Cold Atoms in Space: Community Workshop Summary and Proposed Road-Map
Alonso et al. EPJ Quantum Technology 9, 30, 2022
paper
Quantum correlations at earth-moon distance
White Paper submitted to ESA Voyage 2050: Voyage 2050
Long-term planning of the ESA Science Programme: White Papers
Quantum correlations at earth-moon distance
Experimental Astronomy, 51, 1767 (2021)
Temporalité Irréversibilité et Pulsion in "Temps et Devenir - A partir de l'oeuvre de Prigogine - Brans, Stengers & Vincke Eds - Patiño 1988 p. 307
La
structure auto-référentielle de la temporalité full text in
French - in "La Liberté de l'Esprit", Editions Hachette
1987, p. 135
Self-referential
structure of time - english abstract
Que va devenir le temps? in 34-44,Cahiers de recherche STD. No. "Crise des avant-gardes" no 8, 1981
Constraining the Correlation Distance in Quantum Measurements White paper submitted to the ESA Fundamental Physics Roadmap Advisory Team (2009)
Constraining
the correlation distance in quantum measurements from the Moon
Paper presented at the Workshp Gravitation
and Fundamental Physics in Space GPhyS "Kick-Off "
Colloquium - Les Houches, Oct. 2009
Comment faut-il comprendre la Mécanique Quantique ? Seminar given at Paris Observatory (December 2004)
On the 'History' of the Universe and the beginning of time in the Proceeding of the Semaine Française de l'Astrophysique 2006.
La fabrique de l'origine (2006)
Quantum measurement act as a "speech act" in Endophysics, Time, Quantum and the Subjective, 2005
La nature n'a pas de passé ni d'origine. Topique no. 73 "A l'origine", 2000 (in French)
L'univers n'a
pas d'histoire, le Big Bang n'a jamais eu lieu. (in French)
in
proceedings of L'Origine Primordiale. Paris, July 1998. To be
published
Time,
the mind/body problem and the semiotic state vector collapse in
quantum mechanics.
in Toward a Science of Consciousness
1998 "Tucson III" , April 27-May 2, 1998
Time and the
Mind/Body Problem: a Quantum Perspective
American Imago,
54, 307, 1997.
La non-stratification (in French)
im La
psychanalyse et la reforme de l'entendement
R. Lew Ed.
Editions Lysimaque/College International de Philosophie. p. 147,
1997
(Figures to come later on)
The
Now, Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics
in Time, Now
and Quantum Mechanics
(M. Bitbol and E. Ruhnau Eds. ISBN
2-86332-152-8 Editions Frontieres, BP 33, 91192 Gif/Yvette Cedex,
France).1994
(Figures to come later on)
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