Known reality and beyond: an interview with Avshalom Elitzur
967Avshalom Elitzur talks physics, consciousness, quantum mechanics, politics and the universe.
What is the evidence for backwards causation, and what does it mean for our understanding of reality?
Watch Avshalom debate Michio Kaku, Tim Maudlin and Jimena Canales on the subject of time: https://iai.tv/video/the-trouble-with...
Philosophers have been trying to understand the mystery of consciousness for millenia with little success. Physicist-philosopher Avshalom Elitzur believes that panpsychism provides the most promising explanation of consciousness. Join Elitzur for a wide-ranging discussion covering quantum physics, consciousness, time, environmentalism, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Interviewed by IAI Assistant Producer Simon Custer.
#physics #quantumphysics #quantum #consciousness #time
Avshalom Elitzur (אבשלום כורש אליצור) is a Professor in the Centre for Quantum Studies at Chapman University in the United States and is deemed by many to be an intellectual powerhouse in both the fields of physics and philosophy. Having left school at sixteen to work as a lab technician, he presented a paper on quantum mechanics at Temple University, after which he was invited to Tel Aviv University to complete his doctorate on the subject. Elitzur is best known for his work on the Elitzur–Vaidman bomb-testing problem in quantum mechanics.
00:13 Why do you defend panpsychism?
02:00 What evidence does quantum mechanics give for panpsychism?
03:27 How do you explain unified human consciousness?
07:44 Are there political forces in the scientific community
that have repressed your ideas?
07:59 Why does panpsychism resolve the mystery of
consciousness better than materialism?
09:43 Why do you defend backwards causation?
12:20 Can backwards causation be incorporated into a wider metaphysical view?
13:35 Does the human mind have the capacity
to develop a theory of everything?
14:43 Why is there something rather than nothing,
and is that a question for philosophy or physics?
17:22 Does panpsychism have ethical implications?
18:30 Will we survive as a species?
19:34 What conflicts do you consider most pressing?
20:50 Is there any hope?
21:08 Would you like to comment on the events in Israel right now?
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