There is an argument used against objective idealism that is by far the worst objection I have ever heard. Not all materialist make this objection but the majority of them do. You will hear this objection every time there is any science that conflicts with the materialist worldview. The materialist will say “That’s just quantum woo” without explaining why its some type of pseudoscience. The reason why quantum woo is called “woo” is because it’s a type of pseudoscience in physics that is promoted by quantum mysticism. In objective idealism the universe is seen as a simulation and not as mysticism. If materialist want to argue that idealism is pseudoscience then they need to show why it is. Materialist are excellent at showing why flat earth theory is pseudoscience and why young earth creationism is pseudoscience and they provide arguments and evidence for why its pseudoscience but when it comes to idealism they make no real argument and just repeat the phrase “It’s just quantum woo” without explaining why its pseudoscience. It’s analogous to saying “I don’t like the science, therefore its pseudoscience” it’s just a terrible argument that refutes nothing idealism says. Now its more often an objection against consciousness causing collapse however consciousness causing collapse is one of the interpretations of quantum mechanics mainly the Von Neumann-Wigner interpretation. However this can be extended to the Copenhagen interpretation and information based-information theoretical interpretations (Copenhagen 2.0).

According to the Copenhagen interpretation, physical systems generally do not have definite properties prior to being measured, and quantum mechanics can only predict the probabilities that measurements will produce certain results. The act of measurement affects the system, causing the set of probabilities to reduce to only one of the possible values immediately after the measurement. This feature is known as wave function collapse. In other words particles are in a state of superposition prior to collapse and what collapses it are observers. Now materialist will object that “observers” can be anything even unconscious things which is true however all physical objects are part of the same universal wave function. In other words everything is in a superposition and so whatever causes final collapse cannot be material or physical. This is when we get a von Neumann chain where each particle is needed to collapse the next one. This is the basis for consciousness causing collapse basically consciousness causing collapse is not where consciousness collapses a specific particle but rather it’s needed to start the collapse of the entire chain of particles like a chain reaction.  This is why the orthodox interpretations logically conclude to consciousness causing collapse. Whenever I show the von neumann chain argument materialist have no response and just run away and say there are other interpretations of quantum mechanics. Well then if materialist want to do that then they have just admitted that consciousness causing collapse is not pseudoscience and in fact is supported by the Copenhagen interpretation and information based interpretations. So then idealism wouldn’t be “quantum woo” like they often try to argue. Now since I don’t want to forget this some will also object that decoherence can fully explain collapse without the need of consciousness and that it can solve the measurement problem. However this is completely false as I will link below (1).

And this does not even account for the other evidence that we live in a simulation and how the universe acts like a virtual reality something that is predicted in idealism. (2) I could go on and on about the overwhelming evidence in support of idealism but I will save that for future blog post. The point here is that arguing idealism is somehow “quantum woo” is a terrible argument and doesn’t refute any of the evidence for idealism much less provide a good counter argument. Its like materialist have no argument and so they try to call it “woo” when it’s not. Anyways I hope my readers can understand why its the worst argument against idealism and that materialist need to stop using it if they want to have a rational debate.

Sources:

(1) http://cds.cern.ch/record/531385/files/0112095.pdf

(2) https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0801/0801.0337.pdf