Patient-practitioner-remedy (PPR) entanglement. Part 5. Can homeopathic remedy reactions be outcomes of PPR entanglement?

Getting in a Spin over the Therapeutic Process: QBism and a Gyroscopic Model of the Vital Force

BACKGROUND

In the previous paper, a relatively new interpretation of quantum theory called quantum Bayesianism or QBism was introduced as an alternative quantum metaphor for the therapeutic process (TP). This is because previous metaphors have been based on conventional quantum theory (CQT) and its notion that quantum states belong to a strongly objective shared reality. QBism says no: quantum states are subjective degrees of belief made by the individual agents assigning those states. This suggests QBism's explicit subjectivity is more in line with practitioners' (Pr) and patient's (Px) implicitly subjective TP experience.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to investigate the impact on this suggestion of a gyroscopic model of the vital force, Vf.

METHOD

Based on an original starting wavefunction for the Vf, a sequence of equations and transformations between them are generated and then interpreted as the Vf interacting with and moving into and out of disease (Dx) states, in essence, a physics of health.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

These equations and their transformations manage to predict (a) homeopathic aggravation from the curative remedy (Rx), and (b) the logic behind Hahnemann's development of the LM potencies. Further, displaying these equations and their interactions pictorially and geometrically (as a stellated octahedron) suggests that the recently developed gyroscopic model for the Vf supports a metaphor for the TP (based on the subjectivity explicit in QBism) that is indeed viable and potentially superior to previous metaphors based on the strong objectivity of CQT.

Some Remarks on QBism and its Relevance to Metaphors for the Therapeutic Process Based on Conventional Quantum Theory

Background: Signs and symptoms of dis-ease are considered observable manifestations of an immaterial (i.e., not directly observable) Vital Force. Likewise, experimental results on quantum systems are thought to indicate the presence of something that does not show up. Consequently, the discourse of conventional quantum theory (CQT) - with its notions of non-locality and entanglement being objective (i.e., ontic) facets of reality – has been considered useful metaphor for the therapeutic process (TP) in homeopathy/CAMs. Thus, Patient-Practitioner-Remedy (PPR) entanglement, postulated an ontic non-local interaction between patient (Px), practitioner (Pr), and potentised medicine/curative procedure (Rx), resulting in the patient’s ‘journey to cure.’ Recently, a new epistemic interpretation of quantum theory has arisen called QBism. Rooted in the subjectivity of Bayesianism, QBism refutes the notion that the quantum state of a system is a separate ontic property of reality. In QBism therefore, non-locality and entanglement are not ontic but are considered ‘subjective degrees of belief’ of an agent, i.e., they are personally epistemic. Objective: To examine whether previous CQT-based entanglement metaphors for the therapeutic process need re-evaluation in the light of the subjective Bayesianism inherent in QBism. Method: Pr, Px and Rx quantum states/wavefunctions - Px, Rx, and Pr - are reinterpreted in QBist terms. Unlike CQT, this means each quantum state/wavefunction is postulated to have no ontic non-local existence in a presumed external reality. Instead, they are said to represent local subjective ‘degrees of belief’ of an agent who in this case, is the Pr. Results & Conclusion: Compared to earlier quantum entanglement metaphors based on CQT, QBism’s interpretation of the probabilities inherent in the Px, Rx, Pr quantum state/wavefunctions are Bayesian and subjective. Their resulting highly personal epistemology makes them more aligned with (and therefore potentially more useful to) how practitioners might experience the evolution of the TP. Also, because QBism predicts non-locality and entanglement can only be at best, subjective properties of a practitioner’s own beliefs, the overall significance of previous ontic non-local CQT-based entanglement metaphors for the TP is questioned.

Models for the Study of Whole Systems

This article summarizes a network and complex systems science model for research on whole systems of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) such as homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine. The holistic concepts of networks and nonlinear dynamical complex systems are well matched to the global and interactive perspectives of whole systems of CAM, whereas the reductionistic science model is well matched to the isolated local organ, cell, and molecular mechanistic perspectives of pharmaceutically based biomedicine. Whole systems of CAM are not drugs with specific actions. The diagnostic and therapeutic approaches of whole systems of CAM produce effects that involve global and patterned shifts across multiple subsystems of the person as a whole. For homeopathy, several characteristics of complex systems, including the probabilistic nature of attractor patterns, variable sensitivity of complex systems to initial conditions, and emergent behaviors in the evolution of a system in its full environmental context over time, could help account for the mixed basic science and controlled clinical trial research findings, in contrast with the consistently positive outcomes of observational studies in the literature. Application of theories and methods from complex systems and network science can open a new era of advances in understanding factors that lead to good versus poor individual global outcome patterns and to rational triage of patients to one type of care over another. The growing reliance on complex systems thinking and systems biology for cancer research affords a unique opportunity to bridge between the CAM and conventional medical worlds with some common language and conceptual models.

Observations on entanglement, non-locality and ultra-high dilutions

INTRODUCTION

Fundamental research into the scientific basis of the manufacture of ultra-high dilutions and their working in applications has evolved over the past twenty years since our last critical analysis of the field was published in 1994. New contenders from the realm of physics (entanglement, non-locality) have entered the scene. The vast majority within the community of the application of ultra-high dilutions are not physicists. This paper attempts to elucidate the concepts of entanglement, non-locality and their application in ultra-high dilution research (UHD).

METHOD

A selected study on the activity of fundamental research into UHD is performed to gain insight into trends of development activity of fundamental research in this area. In an attempt to nurture further development of theoretical models in fundamental research in UHD, an attempt is made to made recent theoretical concepts more accessible to the larger community including practitioners, policy makers and beneficiaries of UHD.

RESULTS

Fundamental research in UHD had a period of prolific activity and recognition at the turn of the millennium until about ten years ago. Since then, research output as well as its recognition receded sharply suggesting that a period of reflection and consolidation may be in progress.

CONCLUSION

The study and the knowledge gained from more recent theoretical models in UHD and entanglement suggest that there may be some benefit in stocktaking of what we really know about the fundamental workings of UHD as well as identifying or developing models that include measurable predictors that go beyond metaphorical descriptors.

An analogy between effects of ultra-low doses of biologically active substances on biological objects and properties of spin supercurrents in superfluid 3He-B

The effects of ultra-low doses (ULDs) of biologically active substances (BASs) (with concentrations of 10(-13)M or lower) on biological objects (BOs), such as cells, organisms, etc., and the properties of spin supercurrents in superfluid (3)He-B are discussed. It is shown that the effects of ULDs of BASs on biologic objects can be specified by the same set of physical characteristics and described by the same mathematical relations as those used for the specification and description of the properties of spin supercurrents between spin structures in superfluid (3)He-B. This is based on the up-to-date physical concepts: 1) the physical vacuum has the properties of superfluid (3)He-B; 2) all quantum entities (hence, the BAS and the BO, which consist of such entities) produce spin structures in the physical vacuum. The photon being a quantum entity, the features of the effects of low-intensity electromagnetic radiation on BOs can be explained using the same approach.

Quasi-quantum phenomena: the key to understanding homeopathy

On the basis of the first- and second-order Gompertzian kinetics it has been proved that the crystallization and its reciprocal process of dissolution belong to the class of quasi-quantum non-local coherent phenomena. Hence, there exists a direct link to homeopathy: molecules of the remedy prepared in the process of dilution of the active substance are non-locally interconnected at-a-distance. The results obtained provide strong arguments justifying formulated ad hoc macroscopic versions of quantum non-locality, entanglement and coherence employed in interpretation of the homeopathic remedies activity and effectiveness. In particular they are consistent with the predictions of the weak quantum theory developed by Atmanspacher and coworkers.

Human psychophysiology, macroscopic information entanglement, and the placebo effect

For the past 20 years, the magnitude of the "placebo effect" in double-blind, medical experiments has strongly increased. This paper asks why and how. Starting with the human "psychophysiologic principle," two unconscious and one conscious biofeedback examples are given to demonstrate how malleable we humans are to our expectations and our intentions and how strong our psychoenergetic forces can be relative to conventional chemical forces. Ending with several experimental examples wherein a therapeutically processed device and an unprocessed device are critically compared, one finds strong evidence to propose that an information entanglement process is converting the unprocessed device to a functional replica of the processed device in that its therapeutic efficacy is comparable to that of the treatment device. Furthermore, arguments are provided to indicate that a practitioner's biofield is capable of expanding the range of diagnostic capability of commercial measurement instruments so that the practitioner/device hybrid system becomes a potent psychoenergetic instrument for diagnostic and treatment purposes. In between, a theoretical model is provided, based on the author's extensive experimental psychoenergetic research on long-range interconnectivity between objects, between humans and between humans and objects, to show how long-range, quantitative coupling can occur between our normal atom/molecule level of physical reality and a second, unique level of physical reality whose physics can be modulated by psychoenergetic forces. It is the material qualities of this duplex physical reality that convert a seemingly inert object/device (placebo) into a synergistically active element in double-blind placebo experiments.

Journeys in the country of the blind: entanglement theory and the effects of blinding on trials of homeopathy and homeopathic provings

The idea of quantum entanglement is borrowed from physics and developed into an algebraic argument to explain how double-blinding randomized controlled trials could lead to failure to provide unequivocal evidence for the efficacy of homeopathy, and inability to distinguish proving and placebo groups in homeopathic pathogenic trials. By analogy with the famous double-slit experiment of quantum physics, and more modern notions of quantum information processing, these failings are understood as blinding causing information loss resulting from a kind of quantum superposition between the remedy and placebo.

Entanglement, Knowledge, and Their Possible Effects on the Outcomes of Blinded Trials of Homeopathic Provings

INTRODUCTION

In two recent studies of double-blind placebo-controlled homeopathic provings, entanglement was reported to have occurred between verum and placebo arms of the trials. This contrasts directly with the entanglement-disrupting effects of blinding, recently proposed as the reason for the failure of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to demonstrate unequivocally the efficacy of homeopathy. It is proposed here that such entanglement between remedy and placebo during these double-blind placebo controlled provings is the direct result of the blinding process.

METHOD

A previously developed theoretical model of entanglement in homeopathy among patient, practitioner, and remedy (called PPR entanglement) was used in this investigation.

RESULTS

In agreement with the results from the proving studies, the model predicts that application of the double-blind RCT methodology to homeopathic provings leads to entanglement between both remedy and placebo arms of the trial.

CONCLUSIONS

These theoretical findings can be understood in terms of the act of blinding leading to loss of information because of quantum-like state superposition of the verum and placebo proving groups. This is compared to conclusions drawn from the well-known double-slit experiment of quantum physics, and quantum information processing. It leads to a suggestion for testing entanglement in homeopathic provings.

Immunology and homeopathy. 2. Cells of the immune system and inflammation

Here we describe the results of some experimental laboratory studies aimed at verifying the efficacy of high dilutions of substances and of homeopathic medicines in models of inflammation and immunity. Studies carried out on basophils, lymphocytes, granulocytes and fibroblasts are reviewed. This approach may help to test under controlled conditions the main principles of homeopathy such as 'similarity' of drug action at the cellular level and the effects of dilution/dynamization on the drug activity. The current situation is that few and rather small groups are working on laboratory models for homeopathy. Regarding the interpretation of data in view of the simile principle, we observe that there are different levels of similarity and that the laboratory data give support to this principle, but have not yet yielded the ultimate answer to the action mechanism of homeopathy. Evidence of the biological activity in vitro of highly diluted-dynamized solutions is slowly accumulating, with some conflicting reports. It is our hope that this review of literature unknown to most people will give an original and useful insight into the 'state-of-the-art' of homeopathy, without final conclusions 'for' or 'against' this modality. This kind of uncertainty may be difficult to accept, but is conceivably the most open-minded position now.

Patient-Practitioner-Remedy (PPR) entanglement, Part 8: 'Laser-like' action of the homeopathic therapeutic encounter as predicted by a gyroscopic metaphor for the vital force

BACKGROUND

A preliminary mathematical model for the Vital Force had been developed based on the idea of a metaphorical gyroscope, combined with earlier notions derived from Weak Quantum Theory (WQT) and Patient-Practitioner-Remedy (PPR) Entanglement. This combination generates a hypothetical 'wave function' as a description of the state of the Vital Force that is intimately related to the secondary symptom picture of the therapeutic remedy, and is capable of illustrating certain empirical observations of the homeopathic process, including the bi-phasal action of remedies and some of the results gained from provings.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this present study was to further develop the idea of a Vital Force 'wave function' by generating insights into its mode of reaction to therapeutic intervention by a practitioner.

METHODS

In orthodox quantum theory, the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, in which a particle's wave function is operated upon by the Hamiltonian total energy operator, provides information concerning the temporal evolution of the wave function. By analogy, a secondary-symptom-dependent Vital Force equation is postulated in which the Vital Force 'wave function' is operated upon by a so-called 'homeopathic operator'.

RESULTS

By inserting the previously developed wave function for the Vital Force into the secondary-symptom-dependent Vital Force equation, another equation is generated mathematically reminiscent of longitudinal mode standing waves set up in the resonant cavity of a laser.

CONCLUSION

In the language of therapeutics, it is often said an essential part of the curative process is that practitioners act as 'mirrors' for their patients. Previous papers in this series have shown that this reflective practitioner activity is more than a poetic analogy. Borrowing from the mathematical formalism of quantum theory, with its ideas of entangled, coherent wave-functions as metaphors for the homeopathic process, this mirror-like activity can be seen to be an integral part of the curative therapeutic encounter. The preliminary theoretical investigation reported here develops the metaphor further by suggesting that the effect of this practitioner mirror-like activity on a patient's Vital Force during the therapeutic encounter, might be likened to the sequence of operations by which lasers function. The analogy seems compelling, as an essential feature of laser operation is the arrangement of parallel mirrors placed at both ends of the laser's resonant cavity.