Mathematical Analysis Finds Purely Quantum Agency Impossible Under Standard Rules

A mathematical analysis concludes that agency, a prerequisite for consciousness, cannot operate in a purely quantum manner. Emily Adlam at Chapman University in California and her colleagues reached this result after defining agency through physical requirements that include observing the world, building a model of it, evaluating possible actions, and selecting one.

The no-cloning theorem blocks the copying step needed to compare options, New Scientist reported.

Any attempt to create imperfect copies alters the extracted quantum information, so the agent's model reflects a changed world rather than the original conditions. A purely quantum agent would instead perform a superposition of options weighted toward better outcomes without selecting and implementing the single best action.

Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff proposed in the 1990s that consciousness requires quantum processes because classical physics alone cannot account for it.

Adlam's model tests whether any such quantum theory of agency remains viable under standard quantum rules. Mordecai Waegell, also at Chapman University, presented the results at the Foundations of Physics conference in Irvine, California, on 17 June. "These results help us understand how agency and human-like perception can emerge in an otherwise quantum mechanical universe," Waegell said.

Adlam stated that agency and consciousness are much more likely to arise from or be dominated by classical mechanisms. "There could be some circumstances where perhaps doing a quantum calculation gives you a speed-up, but certainly it makes the whole process of agency look like it is founded in the classical regime," she said.