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Does consciousness arise from quantum mechanics?

In 1990 Penrose and Moroff hypothesized that the source of consciousness is in the fractal structure of the microtubules. The movement of the particles on the fractal is apparently explained with the help of the laws of quantum mechanics but this has never been proven. Now evidence of similar systems in the laboratory strengthens the hypothesis that the fractal forces the particles moving on it to obey the laws of quantum mechanics, but is this the cause of consciousness?

The quantum mind, credit: Max Pixel

Consciousness is one of the most mysterious phenomena in nature. Throughout history, scientists, philosophers, clergymen and spiritualists have proposed a multitude of theories for consciousness, more or less disproved. Ideas continued to flow even in the modern era - in 1990, some thirty years before he won the Nobel Prize, the physicist and mathematician Roger Penrose collaborated with the anesthesiologist Stuart Hamroff to propose his own idea.

The researchers claimed that the neurons in the brain form a branched network that obeys the laws of quantum mechanics - the theory that explains how elementary particles behave in nature. According to them, quantum mechanics is the key to consciousness. Penrose and Maroff's idea aroused a lot of skepticism among the scientific community and for good reason. Quantum mechanics is predicted in extreme situations, usually at very low temperatures, or at very high energies. Since the human body maintains a constant temperature of 36 degrees, the immediate assumption is that Newton's classical laws are sufficient to describe the biological activity in the body. Therefore, the idea of ​​a "quantum brain" has been marginalized, even ridiculed among physicists for years.

In the last decade, scientists began to change their minds on the subject following new and surprising evidence of quantum phenomena in biological systems. The main accepted explanation for the phenomenon of photosynthesis, magnetic sensing and the smell mechanism for example, is based on quantum mechanics. In a new article recently published In NATURE PHYSICS, quantum mechanics may deepen its influence even further. Researchers from China and the Netherlands claim to have found initial evidence of quantum phenomena even in systems similar in complexity to the brain. More specifically, the researchers examined the movement of particles in complex networks. The new evidence has not yet been tested on a human brain but is another step towards justifying or disproving Penrose's controversial idea.

Roger Penrose, Wikipedia
Stuart Hamroff, Wikipedia

Brain and fractals

Our brain is made up of neurons. The prevailing belief at the moment is that the neuronal activity generates consciousness, the big question is how? Penrose and Maroff's theory of quantum consciousness is based on microtubules - a part of the neuron cell that is responsible for transporting vital substances to all its parts. The theory assumes that the microtubules are fractals and therefore quantum processes can be realized in them. Broadly speaking, a fractal is a geometric shape made up of scaled-down copies of itself. Many examples of fractals can be found in nature, leaves, oysters, rivers and even human lungs or blood vessels. A fractal is also a mathematical object with many exotic properties. One of the strangest definitions for a fractal is a fractional dimension. This is a definition that expands the meaning of a dimension from everyday life. The fractal dimension of the microtubules for example is neither exactly two nor three, it is something in between. A fractal is not necessarily related to quantum physics, the last examples are patterns created as a result of purely classical laws.

However, it is easy to see why a fractal is a source of inspiration for researchers of consciousness - the fractal is complex and branching, it is subtle and unique, and in nature it is not always perfect. In principle there is no limit to the size of the fractal and it can be seen even at microscopic distances controlled by quantum mechanics. This is why Penrose and Maroff postulated that the quantum origin derives from the microtubules and that consciousness is derived from the particle behavior in fractal orbits.

Sharpinski carpet
Sharpinski triangle

Quantum consciousness

We are still far from measuring quantum fractals in the brain, if they even exist. And yet, technological progress in recent years has allowed researchers to observe quantum phenomena on fractals under laboratory conditions. In a recently published article, researchers in the Netherlands used a scanning tunneling microscope to transport electrons into a fractal structure. The structure they chose was the Sharpinski triangle, a very famous fractal made up of triangles. The researchers showed that the energy levels belonging to the wave function derive from the fractal dimension of the Sharpinski triangle, meaning that the fractal plays an important role in predicting the physics measured in the laboratory. These are certainly exciting findings, but they are not enough to prove that the network structure in the brain is controlled by quantum mechanics. For this, the dynamics of the particles in space must also be examined. in the new article, the researchers from the Netherlands and China used advanced quantum optics to inject photons into a chip that was very delicately engineered as a fractal. The goal was to examine how photons move on a Sharpinski triangle and then on a similar square structure. The findings showed that the photon moving on a quantum fractal is scattered on the model in accordance with the laws of quantum mechanics. The results of the study encourage and strengthen Penrose's hypothesis, based on which the movement of particles on the microtubules is mainly controlled by quantum theory, but of course this claim must be tested on human tissue. It is likely that we will still hear a lot about quantum consciousness, on both sides of the barrier, but even if the source of consciousness is not in microtubules, such research expands the role of basic physics on biological systems and its effect on the fabric of life.

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20 תגובות

  1. According to the honorable article, consciousness is not a substance, not a particle, nor is it created from particles. Consciousness continues even after the death of the body. Ask millions of people in the world who died a clinical death and came back. Everyone was talking about soul here. It is true that animal species that are also composed of particles like humans have a soul. But the other animals don't have a soul that makes the big difference that...allows man from beast. Every human being, even from other dimensions or a parallel location, has consciousness. Superior beings are made only of light, or whatever you call them - angels. They also have consciousness. If there are very advanced intelligences in other galaxies far beyond what we have reached technologically, they also have a more advanced consciousness than us and they know how to translate the brain signals into a higher consciousness. Bless you.

  2. A very interesting article, as well as the comments accordingly.
    I will write down something that may not be accepted and may sound strange, but in the 18th prayer, we always read and it is written in "Our King" because there are no deeds in us

  3. Typing error
    "30 years before he won the Nobel Prize"
    Chal: 30 years after his victory, etc.

  4. Roy Tov
    From a scientific point of view - all stories of out-of-body experiences are nonsense. We did experiments that showed that there is no such thing.
    People's stories are just stories. This is exactly why science was invented

  5. Leibovitz (the real one, not the one who responded here by name) presented the psychophysical problem as the existence of 2 worlds - the world we are all exposed to versus the separate personal world each of us has.
    We can all measure in the first world the electrons that move and the laws of physics that happen in it, but we will not have the possibility to know if we have created a new personal world, one that has thoughts, feelings and essentially consciousness.
    These two worlds do not work in the same concepts, and this article does not propose a new solution that connects these worlds.
    As they said about a very smart computer (even though a basic computer is also in the same problem, we added more wires and processors, so what then have we created consciousness??), the fact that electricity passes through the wires, and components work and change in the general world, does not indicate any creation of a personal world. This is actually an argument equivalent to me throwing a stone and saying I created consciousness, why would any action, however sophisticated, create any personal world?

  6. There is no doubt that the relationship between the title and the article is shaky...
    What is certain is that in our world people have the ability to control the condition of their bodies from consciousness, there are countless cases of placebos and placebos that show this.
    It is not for nothing that there are tongue coins of a self-fulfilling prophecy, the energy goes to where the attention is and more.
    A quantum explanation, such as observer bias can also explain this conceptually.
    It will take many years if not generations before a definite scientific connection is seen!

  7. Science cannot explain the origin of consciousness or whether there even exists such a thing called consciousness, it may be that consciousness is actually an illusion created by the mind. What's more, there are many testimonies of people from all kinds of countries and religions who experienced clinical death and experienced leaving the body and looking at it from above. I say that from a scientific point of view it is correct to agree that we currently do not have the answers and therefore there is no point in unnecessary debates that arise from faith and not from logical deduction.

  8. This article is exactly what is wrong with modern science and just gets on my nerves. Most of the things written are not true and you can see it in the "educated" comments written here. Let's start with the main problem I have with the whole subject of consciousness. what is it Anyway? Is there any human being in the world with an accepted and consistent definition of what consciousness is? Not only is the answer no, it will always remain no. This is because there is no such thing as consciousness! We humans love to make ourselves special but the truth is that we are a collection of microscopic particles that interact (and yes the interaction is quantum, every interaction in our universe is quantum. The question is whether there are quantum effects or can it be treated as classical). This interaction is very complicated and so it feels like there is something extra on top of everything. But the hard truth is that the only difference between us and the phone we are reading this comment on is the order of those particles that make us up. Therefore all we are is a collection of particles interacting (quantum, I still don't understand how that's a question at all) that causes us to behave the way we do. There is no additional hidden explanation, no hidden variables, nothing. Just stardust in a certain arrangement that is capable of doing simple actions. Once science stops treating humans as gods with hidden powers we can put this nonsense aside and focus on the science that really matters.

  9. I don't understand about this but I'm always interested.
    Most of all, I was really happy to read comments on the matter

  10. "The findings showed that the photon moving on a quantum fractal is scattered on the model according to the laws of quantum mechanics. "
    OK, it's possible that the mind works on a quantum level. Maybe. But what is the causal relationship between this and the creation of consciousness? If it is assumed that brain activity = consciousness, it can be assumed that there is a connection of identity, and we just need to find out.
    Under such an assumption, we can attribute to a computer (light and quantum material) with a very high artificial intelligence, even what is predicted to be "consciousness". The problem is that we know directly that such a computer is also a machine, albeit a sophisticated one - but only a machine, and in this respect it is no different from the brain, which is also only a machine, even if it is a machine of the biological type. A machine is a machine, it is ultimately limited to computational activity that simulates reality, but does not constitute reality itself. Therefore, a machine, including the biological machine called brain, cannot be "consciousness" from the ontological point of view, and the principle of operation will be whatever it is, even quantum.
    Moreover, in principle it can be assumed that consciousness is not the same as pure brain activity, it is not the same as the brain, but an entity that stands on its own and at most the brain serves as a tool or medium for discovery or action.
    If so, the difficulty returns to its place: what is consciousness?
    With this difficulty, the realization also returns, that even very great physicists, even those who are virtuous individuals in mathematical physics, may have philosophical ability and even common sense judgment - to an embarrassing level. It turns out that up to a certain limit, dogmatic materialistic thinking may be an advantage in physics as it is known to us today, but beyond this limit it may be a failure in understanding those layers of reality that deviate from this dogmatics.

  11. It seems as if everyone here solved the psycho-physical problem a long time ago...
    Are matter/energy and mind separate or are they one? And if they separate, what is the origin of the human soul?

  12. Jacob Kidar, the very fact that the particle looks different in two states indicates consciousness. Some say that particles behave differently when observed and differently when not observed. Matter is compressed energy, spirit is energy...energy (call it light/soul/spirit) affects energy. People can move things/objects with the help of consciousness (telekinesis) there is consciousness that affects "matter", move things from the 3d material dimension through the astral dimension to another place in the material world and/or even move by themselves (as a body of light) to other dimensions/other places in the world...whatever you want Do and be convinced that you can do, you can do with the help of will power and the body of light/consciousness and intention

  13. Self-awareness is the only thing that is known firsthand, independent of the senses.
    As for everything else, we grope like blind men in the dark.
    Even if quantum activity is measured in our brain, it should not change our view of reality.
    Or at least those of us who have self-awareness.

  14. There is quite a connection to quantum physics. Much of the consciousness is based on energy/frequencies and is integrated in a non-stimulating way into the human's sensing ability and his sensory knowledge of his body and to a large extent also the human's ability to identify and identify sensory states in others (as empath) and things that happen to him experientially. The nervous system and neurons do an amazing job in this matter and as the commenter here pointed out to other creatures in nature such a system and in learning a person will recognize the things and learn them from other creatures just as he learns them about himself...everything is energy...our body produces/transmits/receives energy regularly...therefore Can sense/communicate with animals, convey sensory/telepathic messages and others...we are all connected and the source of all information is in "Akshiq Records" all a person needs is to be connected to this source of information which is an integral part of the universe...we are one with the universe. The universe is in consciousness and so are we... the only thing is to remember how to do the things we were born with. This is not new... today more and more people around the world are conscious and just like beings from other dimensions are conscious themselves

  15. In my humble opinion, the question that should be asked is whether the human consciousness affects the matter or the fractal matter and the particles behave differently in the presence of human consciousness. Studies have shown that without consciousness the particle is seen as a straight line and with consciousness as a point or the opposite. Which means that the spirit affects the matter and not the other way around. What a scientist never He will ask and not investigate. Ask Einstein.

  16. What was not understood from the article is whether this particle is only a component of consciousness or consciousness itself like the digestive system or the respiratory system is not the human being but the human being cannot exist without them

  17. All well and good, but what is the connection between the quantum behavior of particles in the brain and the sense of consciousness of a human being?
    By the way, if such quantum behavior exists in the human brain, then it also exists in the brains of other living beings, and the meaning of this is far-reaching.

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