Penrose and Hameroff Quantum mind

theoretical physicist roger penrose , anaesthesiologist stuart hameroff collaborated produce theory known orchestrated objective reduction (orch-or). penrose , hameroff developed ideas separately , later collaborated produce orch-or in 1990s. theory reviewed , updated authors in late 2013.

penrose s argument stemmed gödel s incompleteness theorems. in penrose s first book on consciousness, emperor s new mind (1989), argued while formal system cannot prove own consistency, gödel’s unprovable results provable human mathematicians. took disparity mean human mathematicians not formal proof systems , not running computable algorithm. according bringsjorg , xiao, line of reasoning based on fallacious equivocation on meaning of computation.

penrose determined wave function collapse possible physical basis non-computable process. dissatisfied randomness, penrose proposed new form of wave function collapse occurred in isolation , called objective reduction. suggested each quantum superposition has own piece of spacetime curvature , when these become separated more 1 planck length become unstable , collapse. penrose suggested objective reduction represented neither randomness nor algorithmic processing instead non-computable influence in spacetime geometry mathematical understanding and, later extension, consciousness derived.

hameroff provided hypothesis microtubules suitable hosts quantum behavior. microtubules composed of tubulin protein dimer subunits. dimers each have hydrophobic pockets 8 nm apart , may contain delocalized pi electrons. tubulins have other smaller non-polar regions contain pi electron-rich indole rings separated 2 nm. hameroff proposed these electrons close enough become entangled. hameroff suggested tubulin-subunit electrons form bose–einstein condensate, discredited. proposed frohlich condensate, hypothetical coherent oscillation of dipolar molecules. however, experimentally discredited.

furthermore, proposed condensates in 1 neuron extend many others via gap junctions between neurons, forming macroscopic quantum feature across extended area of brain. when wave function of extended condensate collapsed, suggested non-computationally access mathematical understanding , conscious experience hypothetically embedded in geometry of spacetime.

however, orch-or made numerous false biological predictions, , not accepted model of brain physiology. in other words, there missing link between physics , neuroscience, instance, proposed predominance of lattice microtubules, more suitable information processing, falsified kikkawa et al., showed in vivo microtubules have b lattice , seam. proposed existence of gap junctions between neurons , glial cells falsified. orch-or predicted microtubule coherence reaches synapses via dendritic lamellar bodies (dlbs), de zeeuw et al. proved impossible, showing dlbs located micrometers away gap junctions.

in january 2014, hameroff , penrose claimed discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules anirban bandyopadhyay of national institute materials science in japan in march 2013 corroborates orch-or theory.