A mathematical study concludes that consciousness cannot arise purely from quantum processes. Researchers at Chapman University found that the no-cloning theorem prevents the information copying required for agency.
Emily Adlam and colleagues at Chapman University in California developed a minimal physical model of agency. They showed that any purely quantum agent would be unable to copy information about possible actions due to the no-cloning theorem.
The team presented the findings at the Foundations of Physics conference in Irvine, California, on 17 June. Co-author Mordecai Waegell stated that the results help explain how agency can emerge in a quantum universe.
Adlam noted that while quantum calculations might offer occasional speed-ups, agency appears founded in the classical regime. Philosopher Sally Shrapnel at the University of Queensland suggested that less strict interpretations of quantum states could still allow mixed classical-quantum models.