4 ms·

From what I understand, quantum effects being essential to the process is a fringe belief. Penrose is probably the most famous 'serious person' (sorry Deepak

From what I understand, quantum effects being essential to the process is a fringe belief. Penrose is probably the most famous 'serious person' (sorry Deepak Chopra) to espouse the idea, but I'm inclined to believe that might be a Linus Pauling/Vitamin C sort of scenario. Penrose started from the perspective of believing there must be quantum effects, then began fishing for physical evidence of it.

hmmmhmmmhmmm 7y ago
One interesting hypothesis, re: lithium isotopes in Posner molecules: https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/users/mpaf/p178a.pdf https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/users/mpaf/p17...
whymauri 7y ago
I was taught that the quantum theory of memory and cognition generally falls under Eric Schwartz's "neuro-bagging" fallacy [0]. That is: >You assert that an area of physics or mathematics familiar to few neuroscientists solves a fundamental problem in their field. Example: "The cerebellum is a tensor of rank 10^12; sensory and motor activity is contravariant and covariant vectors". So yeah, I feel that it's pretty fringe (as you suggested). [0] https://web.archive.org/web/20170828092031/http://cns-web.bu.edu/~eric/comp_neuro_tricks.html https://web.archive.org/web/20170828092031/http://cns-web.bu...
pvarangot 7y ago
Yeah, "quantum mechanics and cognition are very complex and therefore equivalent", sorry I don't know who to attribute the quote to.
- pgcj_poster 7y ago
  I think you're recalling the end of this comic[1], which was on the front page of HN a couple weeks ago. So the quote is probably attributable to either Scott Aaronson or Zach Weinersmith. [1] https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-talk-3 https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-talk-3
  - pvarangot 7y ago
    Yes! Thanks
AareyBaba 7y ago
"The Secret of Scent" by Luca Turin [0] if I remember correctly goes into research that indicates that there may be quantum effects that explain how shape/chirality of molecules affect smell. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Scent-Adventures-Perfume-Science/dp/0061133841 https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Scent-Adventures-Perfume-Scien... So it is plausible that nature may have evolved to be affected by quantum effects.

hmmmhmmmhmmm 7y ago

One interesting hypothesis, re: lithium isotopes in Posner molecules: https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/users/mpaf/p178a.pdf https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/users/mpaf/p17...

whymauri 7y ago

I was taught that the quantum theory of memory and cognition generally falls under Eric Schwartz's "neuro-bagging" fallacy [0]. That is: >You assert that an area of physics or mathematics familiar to few neuroscientists solves a fundamental problem in their field. Example: "The cerebellum is a tensor of rank 10^12; sensory and motor activity is contravariant and covariant vectors". So yeah, I feel that it's pretty fringe (as you suggested). [0] https://web.archive.org/web/20170828092031/http://cns-web.bu.edu/~eric/comp_neuro_tricks.html https://web.archive.org/web/20170828092031/http://cns-web.bu...

pvarangot 7y ago

Yeah, "quantum mechanics and cognition are very complex and therefore equivalent", sorry I don't know who to attribute the quote to.

pgcj_poster 7y ago
I think you're recalling the end of this comic[1], which was on the front page of HN a couple weeks ago. So the quote is probably attributable to either Scott Aaronson or Zach Weinersmith. [1] https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-talk-3 https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-talk-3
- pvarangot 7y ago
  Yes! Thanks

AareyBaba 7y ago

"The Secret of Scent" by Luca Turin [0] if I remember correctly goes into research that indicates that there may be quantum effects that explain how shape/chirality of molecules affect smell. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Scent-Adventures-Perfume-Science/dp/0061133841 https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Scent-Adventures-Perfume-Scien... So it is plausible that nature may have evolved to be affected by quantum effects.