4 ms·

Can anyone recommend a good book on the subject of microtubules and consciousness?

crispyambulance 2y ago
It's a highly speculative subject, but one source is Roger Penrose's book from the early 90's: "The Emperor's New Mind". Not sure if that's where the hypothesis originated about quantum mechanics and microtubules... I think there's another work by Bohm and the guy who invented holograms that predates Penrose's thinking (but doesn't mention microtubules).
- kordlessagain 2y ago
  Penrose speculated about the source, but was Stuart Hameroff that brought the idea it could be the tubules to Penrose's attention. Hameroff thought anesthesia nerfed the tubules properties, which then caused loss of consciousness. Then there's the recent articles on how the tubes might be able to entangle signals, which was from experimental research on meta materials. I realize all of this is speculative at this point, and nobody is trying to say YES this is how it works. It's simply exploring one possibility, in a positive way, that allows us to think further outside the box.
  - johndunne 2y ago
    It’s a very interesting hypothesis. And I guess research is difficult given the size of these structures and lack of tools available to monitor them with a high level of granularity.
  - PaulHoule 2y ago
    Makes me think of this discussion which is going on right now https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41694025 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41694025
jugg1es 2y ago
This is all very new science. No one has written the kind of book you are talking about yet. There have been theories about the quantum nature of of consciousness for a while but the microtubule theory is pretty new.
- n4r9 2y ago
  Is it really that new? Hameroff and Penrose have been making wild claims about microtubules since at least 1996: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0378475496804769 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/037847...
vixen99 2y ago
As suggested in another comment: Shadows of the Mind" by Roger Penrose in his chapter Quantum theory and the brain*.
bccdee 2y ago
Since it's not a good idea, I'd dispute the idea that there are any properly good books about it. It's Roger Penrose's idea, though—he calls it "orchestrated objective reduction" [1]—and his main book about it is called Shadows of the Mind. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestrated_objective_reduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestrated_objective_reducti...

It's a highly speculative subject, but one source is Roger Penrose's book from the early 90's: "The Emperor's New Mind". Not sure if that's where the hypothesis originated about quantum mechanics and microtubules... I think there's another work by Bohm and the guy who invented holograms that predates Penrose's thinking (but doesn't mention microtubules).

kordlessagain 2y ago
Penrose speculated about the source, but was Stuart Hameroff that brought the idea it could be the tubules to Penrose's attention. Hameroff thought anesthesia nerfed the tubules properties, which then caused loss of consciousness. Then there's the recent articles on how the tubes might be able to entangle signals, which was from experimental research on meta materials. I realize all of this is speculative at this point, and nobody is trying to say YES this is how it works. It's simply exploring one possibility, in a positive way, that allows us to think further outside the box.
- johndunne 2y ago
  It’s a very interesting hypothesis. And I guess research is difficult given the size of these structures and lack of tools available to monitor them with a high level of granularity.
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  Makes me think of this discussion which is going on right now https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41694025 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41694025

jugg1es 2y ago

This is all very new science. No one has written the kind of book you are talking about yet. There have been theories about the quantum nature of of consciousness for a while but the microtubule theory is pretty new.

n4r9 2y ago
Is it really that new? Hameroff and Penrose have been making wild claims about microtubules since at least 1996: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0378475496804769 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/037847...

vixen99 2y ago

As suggested in another comment: Shadows of the Mind" by Roger Penrose in his chapter Quantum theory and the brain*.

bccdee 2y ago

Since it's not a good idea, I'd dispute the idea that there are any properly good books about it. It's Roger Penrose's idea, though—he calls it "orchestrated objective reduction" [1]—and his main book about it is called Shadows of the Mind. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestrated_objective_reduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestrated_objective_reducti...