X-Message-Number: 13247 Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 14:09:44 -0800 (PST) From: Doug Skrecky <> Subject: no human quantum brains extropians-digest Saturday, February 12 2000 Volume 05 : Number 043 From: Robin Hanson <> Science, Volume 287, Number 5454 Issue of 4 Feb 2000, p 791 http://intl.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/287/5454/791 NEUROSCIENCE: Cold Numbers Unmake the Quantum Mind Charles Seife Calculations show that collapsing wave functions of tiny structures in the brain can't explain the mystery of thought. The findings deal a sharp blow to "quantum consciousness," the idea that thoughts arise in the brain through the workings of quantum mechanics. By combining data about the brain's temperature, the sizes of proposed quantum objects, and disturbances caused by such things as ions, a physicist has concluded that possible quantum microprocessors decohere far too rapidly to orchestrate the firings of neurons. Robin Hanson http://hanson.gmu.edu Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=13247