The Theory That Consciousness Is a Quantum System Gains Support
Musser explains the basic idea of the Orch Or Theory (OOT), that conscious experience arises from quantum phenomena in the brain. The theory gained little traction in the past because it was difficult to test but Musser thinks that the use of anesthetics on brain organoids (lumps of brain tissue grown in a medium), along with other new methods may enable the theory to be tested
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Musser tells us, recent research suggests that some kind of quantum processing does occur in the brain. One suggested example is the way a bird’s internal compass includes radicals with an “odd, unpaired electron”:When these radicals eventually react, the outcome will depend on the strength and orientation of the magnetic field. The thinking is that the bird is sensitive to this in a way that allows it to tell north from south. The process is highly quantum as the radical pair electrons are entangled, which means that they act as a single quantum object, even though they are some distance apart.
— Musser, ”Radical consciousness theory?”If that’s correct, we already know of at least one quantum process in a nervous system. Linking that up to human consciousness is still a stretch but, he says, scientists are more willing now to at least consider it.
Feel free to jump in and refute!!
