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Originally Posted by Warren Platts
Similarly, before much progress in neurology was possible, behaviorism of the B.F. Skinner variety was a popular approach to the study of the human consciousness. Behaviorism treats consciousness as the product a black box and cares not at all how particular behaviors are produced; behaviorism was merely concerned with predicting future behavior. Needless to say, treating the human skull as a black box is not very philosophically satisfying.
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There is nothing else for the scientist to study but behavior.
Ken brings his umbrella when it is cloudy because he too often got caught in the rain. That is an observation of behavioral relationships readily visible in the environment. A study of the neuronal fireworks that go on in Ken is simply a study of more behavior--in this case the behavioral relationships among the neurons and the environment. (Note too that without understanding the "outer" environmental behavior, the "inner" neuronal behavior would be quite meaningless.)
There is nothing special about the inner behavior such that the easily observable behavior degrades to "mere bookkeeping."
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So the question is, does treating the quantum realm as if it were a black box imply that the quantum realm really is a black box? Empirically, the answer doesn't matter. Technologically, the answer doesn't matter. But philosophically, the answer is very important.
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By your own account, if you discover any sub-quantum behavior, it too will be just more black boxes. You will always be philosophically dissatisfied if you always discount what you do observe and use to your advantage in favor of what may be hidden beneath the surface boundary of what you happen to be observing.
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For another, it implies that the quantum realm is unlike anything else in experience: it implies that the quantum realm is naturally indeterministic and apparently partless.
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Doesn't quantum mechanics allow us to make the most precise predictions of any science? "Indeterminism" doesn't seem to be an apt description.