Re: No Human Quantum Brains

From: Ken Clements (Ken@Innovation-On-Demand.com)
Date: Sat Feb 12 2000 - 20:34:14 MST


See my post at: http://www.lucifer.com/exi-lists/extropians.3Q99/4600.html
-Ken

Robin Hanson wrote:

> Science, Volume 287, Number 5454 Issue of 4 Feb 2000, p 791
> http://intl.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/287/5454/791
>
> NEUROSCIENCE:
> Cold Numbers Unmake the Quantum Mind
> Charles Seife
> Calculations show that collapsing wave functions of tiny structures in the
> brain can't explain the mystery of thought. The findings deal a sharp blow to
> "quantum consciousness," the idea that thoughts arise in the brain through
> the workings of quantum mechanics. By combining data about the brain's
> temperature, the sizes of proposed quantum objects, and disturbances caused
> by such things as ions, a physicist has concluded that possible quantum
> microprocessors decohere far too rapidly to orchestrate the firings of
> neurons.
>
> Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
> Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
> MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
> 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323



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