Quantum Consciousness

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>So has anybody here ever heard of this theory? If so, what do you think of it? Is it complete crap, as in people just trying to prove that their lives have purposes and aren't merely deterministic? Or might it actually have some validity?</p>

<p>Just curious.</p>

2

<p>I haven’t heard of it; will check out wikipedia later.</p>

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<p>yeah, i’ll wiki it tomorrow, lol.</p>

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<p>I was going to read the Wiki tonight, but it’s a pretty lengthy article. I’ll read it tomorrow if this thread is still on the front page. You probably should have defined the term in your OP.</p>

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<p>Hmm ok. So I guess if any of you would be willing, I’d recommend reading this article: [Quantum</a> Consciousness](<a href=“http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/presentations/whatisconsciousness.html#microtubules]Quantum”>http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/presentations/whatisconsciousness.html#microtubules)</p>

<p>Although it might be bit technical, and lengthy.</p>

<p>And from the Wikipedia page(<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind&lt;/a&gt;), I don’t really understand half the theories, so I’d only recommend reading the introduction and Roger Penrose’s theory.</p>

<p>And umm if no one really replies I’ll summarize it tomorrow or something lol.</p>

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<p>So I read the wiki lol.</p>

<p>INTRO:

  • The quantum mind hypothesis proposes that quantum mechanical phenomena plays a role in the functioning of the brain and may be a fundamental explanation of consciousness.
  • Classical mechanics fails to take into consideration qualia (perceived qualities) and internal experiences of consciousness (dreaming, memory).
  • The aforementioned phenomena include quantum entanglement, superposition, and the nature of a probability wave when observed and its ensuing collapse.
  • It is suggested that conscious awareness may alone bring about such a collapse.</p>

<p>THE QUESTIONS:

  • The macroscopic biology of this is comparatively well-understood. It is the physics behind these neurological processes that are being debated.
  • Which quantum physical processes contribute to consciousness?
    — Why do we have qualitative phenomenal experiences (P-consciousness), and what theory can help explain them?
    ------- Explain the integration of information, random choice, etc.</p>

<p>THE CONSEQUENCES

  • The fundamental question, or at least the question that begs an answer, is essentially, “Do we have free will?”
  • I couldn’t find how quantum consciousness itself hypothesizes the answer though. What a waste lol.</p>

<p>More Reading (based on what I found and stuff I read)!

  • <a href=“http://www.emergentmind.org/CorredoiraI3.htm[/url]”>http://www.emergentmind.org/CorredoiraI3.htm&lt;/a&gt; //On quantum physics and free will
  • Greene, Brian - The Elegant Universe, The Fabric of the Cosmos //General books on String Theory, quantum physics, etc. Very good books imo, and he includes a section where he considers free will and quantum mechanical processes
  • Every link in the “See Also” section of the “Quantum mind” wiki article.
  • Penrose, Roger - The Emperor’s New Mind // VERY pertinent information. Interesting if you have the time.</p>
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<p>Some recent science article reported that ppl have discovered the quantum basis of photosynthesis. That, at least, happens on the molecular level, so QM is definitely applicable there.</p>

<p>On the level of consciousness, I would expect some a priori basis for consciousness based on quantum phenomena (although it would be nigh-impossible to isolate right now). But not in the way Penrose thinks (the criticisms involving quantum decoherence seem quite apt here). Anyways, I pay a lot of attention to the research of Christof Koch and Francis Crick. Both are investigating (well in Crick’s case, were) the physical nature of consciousness (even though they were both educated as physicists), but neither of them have seemed to give much consideration to QM influences yet. But they investigate neural correlates of consciousness, so they’ll only identify which processes are sufficient (or necessary) for consciousness, but won’t isolate the very basis of consciousness itself. </p>

<p>Fundamentally though, a lot of neural signals are fitted to stochastic models. And where does the fundamental basis for this stochasticality come from? It may ultimately come down to QM (although it may be due to many other processes too).</p>

<p>Anyways, there are still a lot of undiscovered neurotransmitters in the brain. I think that at this point, we don’t know enough to really isolate influences to quantum processes (of course, one can use theory, but so far, most of the theory seems to have been debunked. and so then one has to theorize other structures, some of which are probably undiscovered). And since the neural correlates of consciousness still have many unknowns, it will be difficult to isolate specific structures to consciousness. But they will, at least, help isolate those structures so that further researchers can investigate their physical basis.</p>

<p>Anyways, Koch believes that consciousness is an emergent property that might be characterized by a formula for complexity. Of course, this means the net sum of all neural processes, in which case quantum influences aren’t counted. But those quantum influences may influence each neural process summand. The important thing, anyways, is that quantum influences act in a way that don’t make them average out, as everything in nature really is due to quantum influences, but for the most part, we can ignore them since they average out. But there some processes which don’t necessarily average out, and those are cases where QM increases in importance.</p>

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<p>[Living</a> Physics - Science News](<a href=“http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/43147/title/Living_Physics]Living”>http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/43147/title/Living_Physics)</p>

<p>lol birdbrains</p>

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<p>and to think I thought I was smart</p>

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<p>As I understand it, basically they’re saying “The Human conciousness does not work on normal chemical reactions, but is controlled by something deeper, which is defined as Quantum Mechanics.”</p>

<p>AKA We have no idea how people think, and it’s not our fault.</p>

11

<p>Quantum consciousness is something that William James came up with to explain why the world is the way it is. He used quantum consciousness and said that all of our knowledge is predisposed and . . . something else. I’m in AP Psych so we went over this, but it was in the beginning of the year. I may or may not be right. </p>

<p>But anyway…I don’t think it’s COMPLETE crap, answering the OP’s question.
I see it as early psychologist’s just trying to understand why things were and they needed a name for it. For instance, I don’t necessarily believe in the way Freud looked at things, but at the same time I can understand why he would assume what he did and where he would think his theory was the best and worked.</p>