Fwd: Consciousness, Quantum Physics and the Brain

From: Wade Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Thu 12 Dec 2002 - 21:13:40 GMT

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http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/quantum-mind2/

Quantum Mind 2003

Consciousness, Quantum Physics and the Brain

March 15-19, 2003, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Could quantum information be the key to understanding consciousness? Could consciousness enable future quantum information technology?

The nature of consciousness and its place in the universe remain mysterious. Classical models view consciousness as computation among the brain's neurons but fail to address its enigmatic features. At the same time quantum processes (superposition of states, nonlocality, entanglement.) also remain mysterious, yet are being harnessed in revolutionary information technologies
(quantum computation, quantum cryptography and quantum teleportation). A relation between consciousness and quantum effects has been pondered for nearly a century, and in the past decades quantum processes in the brain have been invoked as explanations for consciousness and its enigmatic features. Critics deride this comparison as a mere "minimization of mysteries" and quickly point out that the brain is too warm for quantum computation which in the technological realm requires extreme cold to avoid "decoherence", loss of seemingly delicate quantum states by interaction with the environment. However quantum computation would surely be advantageous from an evolutionary perspective, and biology has had 4 billion years to solve the decoherence problem and evolve quantum mechanisms. Furthemore recent experimental evidence suggests quantum nonlocality occurring in conscious and subconscious brain function, and functional quantum processes in molecular biology are becoming more and more apparent. Moreover macroscopic quantum processes are being proposed as intrinsic features in cosmology, evolution and social interactions. Following the first "Quantum Mind" conference held in Flagstaff at Northern Arizona University in 1999, "Quantum Mind II" will update current status and future directions, and provide dialog with skeptical criticism of the emerging paradigm.

Confirmed speakers:

Sir Roger Penrose, Paul Benioff, Henry Stapp, Guenter Mahler, Mae Wan Ho, Paavo Pylkkanen, Harald Walach, Jiri Wackerman, Jack Tuszynski, Dick Bierman, Koichiro Matsuno, Stuart Hameroff, Nancy Woolf, Scott Hagan, Paola Zizzi, Alexander Wendt, Jeffrey Satinover, Roeland van Wijk, Guenter Albrecht-Buehler, Ken Augustyn, Sisir Roy, Hartmann Roemer, E. Roy John, Gerald Pollack, Carlo Trugenberger, and Menas Kafatos

Submitted abstracts will be considered for Plenary Talks, Short Talks or Posters.

Deadline for abstract submission is December 1, 2002

Topics:

     * Quantum models of consciousness
     * Quantum information science
     * Decoherence, anti-decoherence and topological quantum error correction
     * Cosmology and consciousness
     * Protein, cytoskeletal and DNA dynamics
     * Time: physics and perception
     * Nonlocality and entanglement between macro-systems: experimental evidence
     * Quantum mind and social science
     * Quantum associative memory