Quantum Mechanical Measurement & Entanglement for Neuroscientists and Philosophers

Since its inception, Quantum Mechanics (QM) has engaged many philosophers the subspecialty of a few. More recently, QM has attracted the attention of a few neuroscientists modelling neuronal and higher brain function. This pedagogical review aims to make QM more accessible to neuroscientists and philosophers less familiar with its basics. Emphasis is on QM measurement and entanglement. We write at an intermediate technical level between elementary textbooks and contemporary journals. Against authoritative advice, we use the “crutch of visuality” to ease comprehension of notoriously difficult ideas in QM, e.g., complex Hilbert space, an apparatus setting the outcomes of an experiment. To keep more advanced readers interested, we sow philosophical comments throughout the text. These touch on under-discussed themes (e.g., complex numbers in QM), seek to clarify pedagogically neglected matters (e.g., particles of definite energy), and strike occasional possibly novel points about QM (e.g., the metaphysical double-humility of QM, the quantum state as an ontologico-epistemological hybrid). We strive ultimately to show that even orthodox QM is more concretely graspable and philosophically better thought-out than many have judged.