Is the brain a quantum computer? A remarkable pair of studies suggests so

[marmar]

Is the brain a quantum computer? A remarkable pair of studies suggests so
Using modified MRI machines, physicists may have found quantum entanglement between the heart and brain

By TROY FARAH
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 30, 2022 3:00PM (EST)


(Salon) If someone were to (theoretically) throw a wrench at your head, you might be able to catch it just in time to avoid a concussion. But how? Typically, for split-second reactions, we do not consciously decide to catch. Your brain reacts, does the catching thing, and you don't have to think about it at all.

In fact, our brains regularly make decisions before we even know it. In one 2008 experiment, that has since been repeated a few times, participants were given decision-making tasks while their brains were monitored using brain imaging techniques. It was found that one's brain can make a decision up to 10 seconds before its owner is consciously aware of it.

There's a lot going on in the mind that scientists are still trying to understand. Indeed, despite numerous attempts by neuroscientists over the last century and beyond, it has been difficult to pinpoint exactly why consciousness exists or what it is — a quandary known as the "hard problem of consciousness." Even though we have a good understanding of where consciousness originates — essentially via neurons sending signals to each other — scientists still aren't sure how it arises in matter. After all, humans are just made of basic chemicals like the rest of the universe. A rock isn't conscious—is it? So what makes our soup of chemicals called a brain different? That's the hard problem to solve.

For decades, some outsider researchers have postulated that the brain has some connection to quantum entanglement that results in consciousness. And a recent experiment published in the Journal of Physics Communications is an indicator that this could be possible. ..........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/11/30/is-the-brain-a-quantum-computer-a-remarkable-pair-of-studies-suggests-so/

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. I'm skeptical that entanglement is involved, but I'm not a physicist, so I'll await

I'll await further analysis and replication.

Article did not explain what correlation was found in the second experiment with the older subject group.

Roger Penrose has been pushing a theory of consciousness that involves quantum interactions in microtubles in neurons. I'm skeptical about that too. Very skeptical.

Everything I have studied on the topic, quite a bit, leads me to believe that consciousness is an emergent property that does not need to invoke spooky stuff below the level of neurons and synapses. In other words, make a computer with 10 to 100 billion neurons and ten times as many synapses, and you will be in good shape for it to gain consciousness, the way babies gain it, slowly with exploration.

When considering neuron counts, one must remember that larger body mass requires a lot more neurons. So while whales and elephants may have more neurons, they are probably not fully conscious to the extent that we are. But I expect it is close. There is strong evidence dolphins have well-developed consciousness (self-awareness).

[Igel]

3. Right. Entanglement. At that macroscopic level.

Sorry.

Not.

[RobertAS]

6. Entanglement. At that macroscopic level.

Macroscopic entanglement has been observed more than once see https://www.sciencealert.com/quantum-entanglement-has-now-been-directly-observed-at-a-larger-macroscopic-scale. Don't know if that compares to the scale of the heart and brain.

[Xipe Totec]

4. That's just your entangled brain talking

[padfun]

2. "We are the universe becoming aware of itself"

author attributed to many people.

[Tetrachloride]

5. There's so little math in the Salon article that I discount

the article. Rewrite it from scratch with some external (cough, peer-reviewed ) professionals.

Some of the paragraphs are dense. It takes a while to parse such paragraphs.

The only thing for sure is that some parts of the brain are faster than others— which we already knew , probably thousands of years ago.

[scipan]

7. Questions

1) don't 2 particles have to be next to each other to become entangled? So how did the brain neurons (parts of a neuron?) become entangled with the heart beat cells (parts of cells?)

2) so when you go to sleep, the particles become disentangled, then re-entangled when you wake up?

What am I missing here?

This is all very interesting.