Quantum health and intracellular information technology Stuart Hameroff M.D. Professor, Anesthesiology and Psychology Director, Center for Consciousness Studies The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona www.quantumconsciousness.org
But how do living systems differ from nonliving systems? Health is the optimal state of a living system But how do living systems differ from nonliving systems? What is life?
19th century scientists believed life force fields connected all living beings: vitalism, animism or élan vital
But reductionist science showed biomolecular origins for life
Vitalists were purged from science and medicine
Life is order from disorder (negative entropy) from entropy Varela, Maturana, Margulis: Life is order from disorder (negative entropy) from entropy
Life defies the second law of thermodynamics: Order (negative entropy) tends toward Disorder (entropy)
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Memory –Long term potentiation (LTP)
Hameroff, Craddock & Tuszynski, 2010
Hameroff, Craddock & Tuszynski, 2010
Hameroff, Craddock & Tuszynski, 2010 – ‘Memory bytes’ - A molecular code for intra-cellular information processing
Reality is described by two distinct sets of laws. Our everyday “classical” world follows predictable behaviors At small scales (and sometimes at large scales!) bizarre laws of quantum mechanics reign Quantum Classical
Quantum particles can Exist in multiple possibilities: “superposition” 2) Remain connected over distance: “nonlocal entanglement” 3) Condense into one entity: “quantum coherence” 4) Quantum/classical transition (collapse) somehow involves consciousness (“observer effect”)
Sir Roger Penrose – Consciousness is a process on the edge between quantum and classical worlds, connected to the most basic level of the universe
Penrose-Hameroff ‘Orch OR’ theory of consciousness
Recent evidence shows ballistic/superconductivity at 8 MHz in microtubules (Bandyophadyay)
Quantum World Classical World Co-existing possibilities Definite Interconnected/entangled Isolated (?) Universal mind Material (?) Spiritual Material Hope Doubt
Quantum vitalism?
EnlightenNext Magazine, spring 2010
Conclusions Microtubules are the information superhighway inside cells, and should be targets for pharmacological and optical encoding and regulation Life and consciousness are quantum processes subtly connected to the fine structure of the universe Spiritual beliefs are scientifically plausible www.quantumconsciousness.org