Heat-Induced Quasicrystal Formation in Vicinal Water. Quantum Coherence in Microtubules and the Phi Connectome

Scientific Essay from the year 2020 in the subject Physics - Quantum Physics, , language: English, abstract: This paper proposes a mechanism producing quantum coherence in microtubules and questions, how this quantum coherence is scaled up to include the cerebral cortex. Microtubules are part of the cytoskeleton in all cells. In neurons, they are thought to play a key role in consciousness. The Orch-OR theory of consciousness maintains that consciousness-qualia, the feeling of life itself-requires quantum processes, and that Turing machine algorithms, though capable of astonishing calculations, lack insight and understanding. "Insight" as Gödel's incompleteness argument suggests may not be demonstrable by an algorithmic process. Consciousness (Chalmer's explanatory gap) may depend on more than calculation. In the current consciousness paradigm, quantum coherent microtubules are considered the primary unit of "computation" rather than neurons and the synapses between neurons.