On the Tangled Hierarchy of Wave Functions and Observers

This paper explores the intricate relationship between the observer, consciousness, and quantum mechanics, attempting to defend the interpretation of the wave function as a representation of consciousness. More precisely, in our framework, a quantum state, represented by a wave function, determines a state of consciousness related to the first-person experiences, \(w\), of the events \(E\), detected by senses. Building on Everett’s many-worlds interpretation, we argue that the wave function is not an objective universal entity, but rather one that is inherently associated with the first-person experiences \(w \in P\) of an observer \(\mathcal{O}\) . The set \(P\) also includes other observers, \(\mathcal{O}^{\prime}\), as subsets. We demonstrate that this proposal does not lead to solipsism, because there is no unique hierarchy of observers, as indicated above, but there are many possible hierarchies of observers, such that, e.g., the roles of the first-person observer, \(\mathcal{O}\), and the third-person observer, \(\mathcal{O}^{\prime}\) are interchanged. The corresponding quantum states, \(\psi_{\mathcal{O}}\) and \(\psi_{\mathcal{O}^{\prime}}\), are elements of the space of all possible quantum states, the Hilbert space, \(\mathcal{H}\). It is this larger space that we identify as the objective reality. Thus, our approach overcomes the main obstacle faced by researchers who tried to make sense of quantum mechanics, namely, the wall of solipsism. In this framework, the Everett many-worlds interpretation and the wave function collapse interpretation are not mutually exclusive but instead represent complementary perspectives within the hierarchy of observers, each offering insight into the underlying physics from a different vantage point.