The Extended Brain: Cyclic Information Flow in a Quantum Physical Realm (original) (raw)
Related papers
Quantum Brain Dynamics. A Possibility of Having a Quantum Interpretation of the Brain
arXiv (Cornell University), 2023
In recent years we have seen quantum physics advance in leaps and bounds. Living matter is becoming more comprehensible when we appeal to the fundamental states that define their existence, namely the quantum fields that comprise them. When we consider living matter (organisms), we are presented with the difficult complexity of understanding the human brain. The brain itself is not the human being neither does it comprise the totality of the human person, but is inherently embedded in the entire being of the human person. We are obviously aware of the fact that the major function of the brain pertains to consciousness, be it broad and specific, the former being that general/objective view of awareness recognized, such that is seen when one wakes up from sleep, and the specific that refers to the particular/subjective state of being aware of this or that (this comes after the broad though). Other functions include memory, thought-control, motorskills, vision, breathing, temperature, body-regulation etc. However, all these come after consciousness. Thus what Quantum Brain Dynamics (QBD) considers is not just these other functions of the brain, this is because they can be well analyzed with the workings of classical mechanics (even though they still play host to a quantum description). It rather considers two specific functions above all else consciousness and memory. QBD falls in line umbrella-covers aspects of the quantum brain analysis such as quantum-consciousness, quantum-mind and quantum-brain. The inspiration that lurks behind the Quantum Interpretation of the Brain (QIB), is traceable to the 1944 article written by E. Schrodinger, What is Life, in which he presents how a living organisms evades decay to equilibrium by the fact of negentropy, as such life which is in its ordered macroscopic state is created (in an environment of disorder), which moves against the second law of thermodynamics. The life that is created, that which is sustained, arises from an interaction that the organism engages in with the environment. This interaction is microscopic, albeit quantum, it is an interaction that underscores the reality of quantum entanglement (which also plays hosts to the superposition of quantum states). The quantum interpretation of the brain is a nascent, yet burgeoning as it might be that necessary tool required for a better articulation and comprehension of the brain.
Quantum information theoretic approach to the mind-brain problem
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 2020
The brain is composed of electrically excitable neuronal networks regulated by the activity of voltage-gated ion channels. Further portraying the molecular composition of the brain, however, will not reveal anything remotely reminiscent of a feeling, a sensation or a conscious experience. In classical physics, addressing the mind-brain problem is a formidable task because no physical mechanism is able to explain how the brain generates the unobservable, inner psychological world of conscious experiences and how in turn those conscious experiences steer the underlying brain processes toward desired behavior. Yet, this setback does not establish that consciousness is non-physical. Modern quantum physics affirms the interplay between two types of physical entities in Hilbert space: unobservable quantum states, which are vectors describing what exists in the physical world, and quantum observables, which are operators describing what can be observed in quantum measurements. Quantum no-go theorems further provide a framework for studying quantum brain dynamics, which has to be governed by a physically admissible Hamiltonian. Comprising consciousness of unobservable quantum information integrated in quantum brain states explains the origin of the inner privacy of conscious experiences and revisits the dynamic timescale of conscious processes to picosecond conformational transitions of neural biomolecules. The observable brain is then an objective construction created from classical bits of information, which are bound by Holevo's theorem, and obtained through the measurement of quantum brain observables. Thus, quantum information theory clarifies the distinction between the unobservable mind and the observable brain, and supports a solid physical foundation for consciousness research. Highlights • Psychological inner world remains private and unobservable from a third-person perspective. • Physiological brain activity due to electric excitations of neuronal networks is observable. • Quantum information theory makes a distinction between physical states and observables. • Unobservable quantum information built in quantum brain states comprises consciousness. • The observable brain is constructed from bits of information constrained by Holevo's theorem.
Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: a neurophysical model of mind -brain interaction
Neuropsychological research on the neural basis of behaviour generally posits that brain mechanisms will ultimately suffice to explain all psychologically described phenomena. This assumption stems from the idea that the brain is made up entirely of material particles and fields, and that all causal mechanisms relevant to neuroscience can therefore be formulated solely in terms of properties of these elements. Thus, terms having intrinsic mentalistic and/or experiential content (e.g. 'feeling', 'knowing' and 'effort') are not included as primary causal factors. This theoretical restriction is motivated primarily by ideas about the natural world that have been known to be fundamentally incorrect for more than three-quarters of a century. Contemporary basic physical theory differs profoundly from classic physics on the important matter of how the consciousness of human agents enters into the structure of empirical phenomena. The new principles contradict the older idea that local mechanical processes alone can account for the structure of all observed empirical data. Contemporary physical theory brings directly and irreducibly into the overall causal structure certain psychologically described choices made by human agents about how they will act. This key development in basic physical theory is applicable to neuroscience, and it provides neuroscientists and psychologists with an alternative conceptual framework for describing neural processes. Indeed, owing to certain structural features of ion channels critical to synaptic function, contemporary physical theory must in principle be used when analysing human brain dynamics. The new framework, unlike its classic-physics-based predecessor, is erected directly upon, and is compatible with, the prevailing principles of physics. It is able to represent more adequately than classic concepts the neuroplastic mechanisms relevant to the growing number of empirical studies of the capacity of directed attention and mental effort to systematically alter brain function.
2001
The quantum theory of mind allows a shift from the Mind/Brain metaphysical problem to the Quantum Mind/Classical Brain scientific problem: how could systematic and coherent quantum processes -assumed to be the physical support of our conscious experiences -occur in a macroscopic system as the brain? I discuss a solution based on a neurobiological model that attributes to quantum computation in intra -neuronal protein networks the role of directly supporting phenomenal experience. In this model, quantum coherence is created or prepared by classical mechanisms as recurrent neuronal networks, oscillatory synchrony and gated membrane channels, thus avoiding common theoretical constraints for the existence of quantum communication and computation (ultra-cold temperatures and quasi-isolation from the environment).
Entanglement has been described as excess correlation between separated parts of a quantum system that may exceed the boundaries of light velocity across space and time. The concept of macroscopic entanglement is considered an emergent condition of microscopic or quantum entanglement such that functional relationships between electron spin, orbital time and photon movements allow an interface with biological systems, particularly brain activity and function. Quantitative evidence is provided for such macroentanglement and discussed with respect to consciousness and electromagnetic fields, photon emissions from the human brain and geomagnetically based contributions, where quantitative convergence suggests processes associated with thinking could be linked to intrinsic characteristics of the electron from which quantum entanglement would emerge.
NeuroQuantology, 2012
In recent years, so-called "quantum theories of consciousness" become popular. Most of them suggest that human phenomenal consciousness (and "self") may be associated with macroscopic collective quantum phenomenon such as Bose-Einstein condensate. Macroscopic quantum system behaves, in some sense, like a single huge super-particle, and this seem to solve the problem of the unity of consciousness. These ideas are, however, not in a good agreement with contemporary physics. The ability of "quantum theories of consciousness" to explain correctly the unity of consciousness also seems questionable to some authors. In this paper we suggest a radical alternative: we argue that human consciousness may be a property of single electron in the brain. We suppose that each electron in the universe has at least primitive consciousness. Each electron subjectively "observes" its quantum dynamics (energy, momentum, "shape" of wave function) in the form of sensations and other mental phenomena. However, some electrons in neural cells have complex "human" consciousnesses due to complex quantum dynamics in complex organic environment. We discuss neurophysiological and physical aspects of this hypothesis and show that: (1) single chemically active electron has enough informational capacity to "contain" the richness of human subjective experience; (2) quantum states of some electrons might be directly influenced by human sensory data and have direct influence upon human behavior in real brain; (3) main physical and philosophical drawbacks of "conventional" "quantum theories of consciousness" may be solved by our hypothesis without much changes in their conceptual basis. We do not suggest any "new physics", and our neuroscientific assumptions are similar to those used by other proponents of "quantum consciousness". However, our hypothesis suggests radical changes in our view on human and physical reality.
2010
The consciousness is the basis of our reality and our existence, but the mechanism by which the brain generates thoughts and feelings remains unknown. Most of the explanations depict the brain as a computer, with nerve cells (neurons) and their synaptic connections acting as simple switches. However, the calculation alone cannot explain why we have feelings, awareness and "inner life". Indeed, neurophysiological processes and phenomena of the mind are now among the biggest unanswered questions in science. It is time for quantum consciousness.
The Quantum Mind/Classical Brain Problem
NeuroQuantology, 2007
The quantum theory of mind allows a shift from the Mind/Brain metaphysical problem to the Quantum Mind/Classical Brain scientific problem: how could systematic and coherent quantum processes-assumed to be the physical support of our conscious experiences-occur in a macroscopic system as the brain? I discuss a solution based on a neurobiological model that attributes to quantum computation in intra-neuronal protein networks the role of directly supporting phenomenal experience. In this model, quantum coherence is created or prepared by classical mechanisms as recurrent neuronal networks, oscillatory synchrony and gated membrane channels, thus avoiding common theoretical constraints for the existence of quantum communication and computation (ultra-cold temperatures and quasi-isolation from the environment).
Quantum Interference in Cognition: Structural Aspects of the Brain
2012
We identify the presence of typically quantum effects, namely 'superposition' and 'interference', in what happens when human concepts are combined, and provide a quantum model in complex Hilbert space that represents faithfully experimental data measuring the situation of combining concepts. Our model shows how 'interference of concepts' explains the effects of underextension and overextension when two concepts combine to the disjunction of these two concepts. This result supports our earlier hypothesis that human thought has a superposed two-layered structure, one layer consisting of 'classical logical thought' and a superposed layer consisting of 'quantum conceptual thought'. Possible connections with recent findings of a 'grid-structure' for the brain are analyzed, and influences on the mind/brain relation, and consequences on applied disciplines, such as artificial intelligence and quantum computation, are considered.