pinkel, daniel (2025) LIVING IN CONFIGURATION SPACE. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Survival of living beings depends on their ability to navigate a 3-dimensional world described by classical mechanics. However, quantum mechanics (QM), the best physical theory we currently have, employs high-dimensional configuration space (CS) and describes dramatically non-classical behavior. Thus, our perceptual and intellectual descriptions of the world are fundamentally in tension. This paper presents a straightforward, fully QM analysis of those motions of complex Structures that are consistent with preserving their integrity, functionality, and life. It shows that the wave function (WF) is a product of two terms. The first describes unrestricted translational and rotational motions defined by special 3-dimensional subspaces of CS, one for each Structure. This motion is effectively classical for Structures that are sufficiently large to be living. Interactions between Structures allow living beings to generating a common 3-D, classical, manifest image of their macro world. The second term of the WF describes the fully QM interior behavior of the components of the Structure--the chemistry of life. Thus, the recent -- on the evolutionary timescale -- intellectual recognition that everything must be described by QM in CS is fully compatible with the evolutionary perception of inhabiting a 3-dimensional, classical world.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID pinkel, daniel dan.pinkel@ucsf.edu 0000-0002-0171-1192
Keywords:	perception; configuration space; 3-D manifest image; quantum mechanics; translational motion; projection
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Dr. Daniel Pinkel
Date Deposited:	27 Feb 2025 15:19
Last Modified:	27 Feb 2025 15:19
Item ID:	24838
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	26 February 2025
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24838

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• LIVING IN CONFIGURATION SPACE. (deposited 31 Oct 2024 17:22)

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