Shan Gao

Shan Gao is a philosopher of physics at the Research Center for Philosophy of Science and Technology, Shanxi University, and a visiting fellow of the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh (center page). His research targets the hardest foundational question in quantum mechanics, what the wave function actually is, defending a realist answer in which the wave function describes a physical entity in high-dimensional space. His books, including The Meaning of the Wave Function (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and the Oxford volume he edited on consciousness and the quantum world, place him at the center of the consciousness-causes-collapse debate, where the Kelvin McQueen and David Chalmers proposal is a leading position.

The connection to consciousness science is precise. If the wave function is physically real, then collapse dynamics are physical events, and consciousness as the trigger of collapse becomes a hypothesis with observable consequences, protected by no metaphysical shield. Gao’s analyses of protective measurements and of the disproof space for collapse-consciousness links supply the discipline.

For the site’s quantum camp, Gao is the foundationalist. Before asking whether quantum hardware can host experience, the field must know what quantum theory describes, and Gao’s program is where that question receives its sharpest treatment.

Known for. Wave function ontology, the meaning of the wave function, consciousness-causes-collapse analysis, editor of quantum mind volumes at Oxford University Press

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Shan Gao is listed with the other quantum theorists, who hold that consciousness depends on physics classical computers do not reproduce. The theory family behind that position is set out in the index of consciousness theories. Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers.