Do you believe that one's mind can in any way directly affect matter beyond that which is in one's own body?

Question

To be clear, I do not mean via any technological route or any sort of trickery. I mean for instance that I look at the wall beside me - is there anything my mind can do to turn the simple act of paying attention to the wall into actually causing changes within the atoms of the wall - even if only on the subatomic level? That's just an example scenario, feel free to refer to it or to any other mind/matter scenario you wish in your reply.

I'm posting this here instead of the religion & spirituality forums because if it can occur at all, the type of phenomenon I'm inquiring about would be empirically verifiable and thus within the realm of science. Unfalsifiable answers and speculations based on things which are not empirically observable - these things need not apply. ;-)

Answer 1

There are a lot of misunderstandings about the relationship between consciousness and quantum mechanics. There really isn't one.

A lot is made about the collapse of the wave function due to observation.

For example, if you have the double slit experiment where an electron can go through one of two slits, if it isn't possible to tell which slit it goes through, the two possibilities combine and create an interference pattern. But if it is possible to tell which path was taken, because there was light shining on the paths this time, then the two possibilities don't add up in the quantum way.

Now, nature doesn't care if you bother to record which slit the electron went through. And you definitely don't get a Back-to-the-Future transition of a photographic plate with one pattern shifting to another if you would happen to accidentally burn the data you took of which path the electron took.

If you are interested in quantum mechanics, I highly recommend Feynman's book "QED: A strange theory of light and matter." Reality, in this case, is far more bizarre than fantasy. But it doesn't involve super-powers.

Answer 2

Don't mistake the direction of information travel when you "look" at something. There is nothing shooting out of your eyes that would affect the wall. Rather, the wall is emitting (reflecting, really) photons which happen to strike your eyes.

Essentially, "paying attention" is a passive action, from the point of view of the object you're paying attention to. It simply means the information (the photons) the object is sending out is being intercepted. It does not mean that the observer is sending information back.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Yes I do believe.

The very act of thinking requires and generates energy. While thinking the brain emits electromagnetic waves which can be sensed by others especially animals.

Telekinesis though considered a fringe science is now being investigated by groups. One theory is that the low levels of energy may resonate with some energy levels in atoms and molecules.

Answer 5

Absolutely I do believe it!

When I was a young boy at age 13, and when my father and stepmother were fighting, and I was under stress, I could look upon objects and will them to burst, and they did the very second which I willed it to happen.

This power frightened me because once when my stepmother was provoking my father to anger in our dinning room, I simply wished for a light globe to fall down from the celling above her, to stop her from provoking him, and it broke around the metal knob which was holding it to the ceiling and fell the very split second that I thought about it, and nearly hit her, if she had not stepped forward just as it was falling it would have landed upon her head and possibly hurt her very badly.

I loved my father, and I loved my stepmother also, and in truth it was not my desire to hurt anyone, and after this had transpired and all had left the room I examined the ceiling lamp and observed the fractured glass fragments still partly under the knob and realized that I could inadvertently hurt someone through simple thoughts, and I chose not to ever use it, never ever again, and I have not.

Answer 6

In any normal measurable way No.
In quantum physics though, the act of observation came resolve a quantum state.
Google 'schrodingers cat`.

Answer 7

Thoughtfull now resides in the "Rush Limbaugh Home for Pathological Liars and Kids Who Need More Attention at Home". Please, drop him a line. I hear its lonely in there.