Organisms might be quantum machines
1–10 of 127 posts
Re: Organisms might be quantum machines
#2Only somewhat related: I'm currently reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I'm nearing the end of the book, and the concept that human brains might use quantum processes in the decision-making process is a very important and prevalent idea in the novel. [Although he takes some artistic license --- it is only a novel, afterall]. So I've been thinking, at least passively, about organisms being quantum machines quite a bit for the last week or so.
Re: Organisms might be quantum machines
#3Only somewhat related: I'm currently reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I'm nearing the end of the book, and the concept that human brains might use quantum processes in the decision-making process is a very important and prevalent idea in the novel. [Although he takes some artistic license --- it is only a novel, afterall]. So I've been thinking, at least passively, about organisms being quantum machines quite a bi…
Tha's what Roger Penrose argued in "Shadows of the Mind" where he theorizes about quantum effects in the human brain and how they might give rise to conciousness [1]. There's some criticism about it, because the brain is pretty warm and decoherence should disturb all quantum states so much taht they become unusable, but it is still a research topic if "warm" quantum states can exist.
Re: Organisms might be quantum machines
#4This can open new research also on how works for example homeopathy and acupunture?
Re: Organisms might be quantum machines
#5Tl;dr Biology is applied chemistry, chemistry is applied quantum physics and in some cases chemistry is a leaky abstraction and does not perfectly explain what is going on in organisms. Three examples - photosynthesis being more efficient than expected, birds sensing Earth's magnetic field by an unknown mechanism and a lack of understanding how olfaction works in detail - are presented but besides that there are no new revolutionary ideas in the article.
Re: Organisms might be quantum machines
#6This can open new research also on how works for example homeopathy and acupunture?
Homeopathy does not work except for the placebo effect, there are several studies.
Re: Organisms might be quantum machines
#7This can open new research also on how works for example homeopathy and acupunture?
[deleted]
Re: Organisms might be quantum machines
#8Only somewhat related: I'm currently reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I'm nearing the end of the book, and the concept that human brains might use quantum processes in the decision-making process is a very important and prevalent idea in the novel. [Although he takes some artistic license --- it is only a novel, afterall]. So I've been thinking, at least passively, about organisms being quantum machines quite a bi…
While it's certainly possible that neural networks involve some non-trivial quantum-mechanical effects, it's also much more likely that (in the context of the brain), this notion arose from people expecting the brain and consciousness to be mysterious and inscrutable, hence "maybe consciousness is quantum!". In the absence of a concrete theory and testable experiment, that sentence has about as much meaning as "maybe consciousness is emergent!" or "maybe consciousness is supernatural!".
(Here, I'm talking about vague statements like those, or sci-fi theories like those in a Stephenson novel, as opposed to actual analysis like that of photosynthesis in the linked article.)