atom286, thanks for the considered and thoughtful response. I do disagree with it, but I'll try not to be insufferable about it! I think there's an increasing (mis)use of QM terminology to arrive at folk explanations to bolster claims such as the 'law of attraction', so I tend to think it's important to examine it as closely as possible, and not just dismiss it out of hand as many tend to.
QUOTE (atom286 @ May 5 2008, 02:57 PM)

I think there are elements of the subconscious which are buried so deep down in our minds and are so far removed from external reality quantum effects come into play.
I think this is the first non sequitur of several in your post; this is because quantum effects have little to do with being 'removed from external reality'. Instead, it's a case of
scale: on the submicroscopic level, matter acts differently to the larger scale, and it is this different behaviour of particles which is described using quantum mechanics. So whilst the concept of the 'subconscious mind' is debatable in itself, if it
is assumed to be a viable construct the validity of QM as a way of describing it would rely on its mechanism, rather than its removal from reality. The fact that QM is only used to describe the very, very tiny is because quantum effects simply don't translate to the macroscopic level.
This said, Roger Penrose's ideas concerning the possible quantum nature of consciousness may resemble in a certain sort of way some of your ideas; but it is important to note that, although first proposed more than twenty years ago, they are still speculative, and far from being widely accepted. Moreover, they concern consciousness generally rather than the lower-than-conscious automatic processes of mental function which operate beneath the accessible mind.
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We have all heard of identical twins where one is in an accident and the other can feel the pain.
Through anecdote, yes; but all well-designed studies into twin telepathy - which should be easily explored - have found no effect. Make of this what you will.
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Well I put this down to those quantum effects. The way I see it is that in each of our brains we have many billions of neurons we almost never use.
The human brain is composed of approximately 100 billion neurons, all of which are used by its many processes. I wonder if perhaps you are falling victim to the baseless 'we only use 10% of our brains' canard, which would have implied that there are 90 billion unused neurons in our heads? In actual fact, it wouldn't make biological, psychological or evolutionary sense if this were the case, since brain is quite a resource-intensive substance; the origin of that particular myth is obscure (to me at least), but it doesn't seem to be grounded in any science I'm aware of (unless you can correct me?).
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Sometimes an extreme situation arises which uses some of these neurons like one twin getting their legs ripped of in a car crash.
Because they are not normally used I believe they normally behave quantum mechanically.
Again, this seems to be a non-seq: things only behave quantum-mechanically when they are subatomic in scale; it is of no import in this regard whether a system is used often or not.
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When these neurons fire in the accident their wavefunctions collapse. However identical twins also have a lot of identical neurons which are going to be in a superposition with each other. Collapse one and the matching ones collapse too. Quantum teleportation occurs and the second twin gets to experience the horror of getting their legs ripped off.
You
seem to be talking about quantum entanglement, yet you do not state why the neurons of the twins should be in a state of quantum entanglement in the first place. This is a very specific and delicate quantum state, and is not one which should occur in the manner you describe. Moreover, neurons do not have a wavefunction; subatomic particles do. A neuron is far, far too big to discuss in these terms, and reality could not be 'entangled'. Remember as well the way that brains develop throughout one's life: pathways and links are made between neurons throughout the brain with use, and it is these increasing and developing connections which do all of our thinking, not neurons on their own. Without use, there would be no connections; and without connections, there would be no cognitive phenomenon associated with the firing.
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The law of attraction is based on the same mechanism. The universe is not made of seperate parts it is one. This oneness is because everything is connected up with non local connections. Things that go on in the subconscious that effect neurons normally not used also have an effect on reality because of these connections.
This goes infinitely further than the already fantastic twin example. How are the neurons connected to the wide world outside? How would they have become entangled with Everything,
and be able therefore to affect it at will?
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To prove this there is a little experiement you can try. Sit down and write a 10 minute speech on anything then practice speaking it. It can be on any topic you like but try to make it an unusual one. Use your mind to be as creative as possible to really get that subconscious going. Then over the next couple of days read the papers, watch tv, examine the internet and look out for the coincidences that occurs. Because you choose an unusual topic to write it on this will kind of spook you when it happens.
I like the fact that you actually give an example of how to test the theory; but there is a problem with this one as it stands, in that there is no way to differentiate between the 'law of attraction' hypothesis and what I would see as its more realistic rival in this scenario, namely a very normal cognitive bias which causes us to be more likely to notice things which are meaningful to us. As soon as one has picked the topic, and invested some meaning into it, the frequency of that topic's appearance in the random noise of information around us will remain the same, but suddenly we'll be noticing it more. Experimental differentiation between the two hypotheses is possible, but oly through strict controls and measurement.