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byrnema comments on Belief in Belief - Less Wrong
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If, in quantum mechanics, we can say that something doesn't happen unless it's observed, why can't we say that prayer works only if it isn't observed (in the aggregate)? They seem equally mysterious claims to me.
Indeed, certain interpretations of quantum mechanics (for example, non-local action at a distance) point to dualism. You don't even need to be quite so exotic: spontaneous particle creation in a vacuum would be evidence that X isn't closed or complete. These are real and interesting problems at the interface of science and philosophy. It doesn't minimize physical materialism to acknowledge this.
(I keep saying that I agree that dualism is incoherent -- likewise I think that some interpretations of quantum mechanics and the existence of any truly random processes would be incoherent as well for equivalent reasons. )