Consciousness operates beyond the timescale for discerning time intervals: implications for Q-mind theories and analysis of quantum decoherence in brain

This paper presents in details how the subjective time is constructed by the brain cortex via reading packets of information called "time labels", produced by the right basal ganglia that act as brain timekeeper. Psychophysiological experiments have measured the subjective "time quanta" to be 40 ms and show that consciousness operates beyond that scale - an important result having profound implications for the Q-mind theory. Although in most current mainstream biophysics research on cognitive processes, the brain is modelled as a neural network obeying classical physics, Penrose (1989, 1997) and others have argued that quantum mechanics may play an essential role, and that successful brain simulations can only be performed with a quantum computer. Tegmark (2000) showed that make-or-break issue for the quantum models of mind is whether the relevant degrees of freedom of the brain can be sufficiently isolated to retain their quantum coherence and tried to settle the issue with detailed calculations of the relevant decoherence rates. He concluded that the mind is classical rather than quantum system, however his reasoning is based on biological inconsistency. Here we present detailed exposition of molecular neurobiology and define the dynamical timescale of cognitive processes linked to consciousness to be 10-15 ps showing that macroscopic quantum coherent phenomena in brain are not ruled out, and even may provide insight in understanding life, information and consciousness

Revisiting the microtubule based quantum models of mind: tubulin bound GTP cannot pump microtubule coherence or provide energy for alpha <-> beta computation in stable microtubules

The current paper investigates the biological models of stable brain microtubules as quantum or classical computers whose function is based on electron hopping associated with kinking of the tubulin dimer. Hameroff (1998a, 1998b, 2003a, 2003b), Tuszynski et al. (1998), Hagan et al. (2000), Mershin et al. (1999); Mershin (2003) suppose that the energy needed could be somehow delivered via guanosine diphosphate (GDP) exchange for guanosine triphosphate (GTP) or via cycles of tubulin bound GTP hydrolysis. Here is presented biological and structural data from electron diffraction studies performed by Lowe et al. (2001) and computer simulation with MDL ® Chime Version 2.6 SP4, explaining and visualizing the inconsistency of the proposed tubulin bit (qubit) GTP energized alpha <-> beta computation and/or tubulin bound GTP pumped coherence in stable microtubules

Test of lepton universality and search for lepton flavor violation in Upsilon(1S,2S,3S) decays at CLEO

We present the analysis technique and preliminary results of two ongoing analyses at CLEO which put lepton universality and lepton flavor conservation to the test in Upsilon decays.Comment: 3 pages, contributed to the proceedings of Particles and Nuclei International Conference (PANIC05), October 24-28, 2005, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US

Practopoiesis: Or how life fosters a mind

The mind is a biological phenomenon. Thus, biological principles of organization should also be the principles underlying mental operations. Practopoiesis states that the key for achieving intelligence through adaptation is an arrangement in which mechanisms laying a lower level of organization, by their operations and interaction with the environment, enable creation of mechanisms lying at a higher level of organization. When such an organizational advance of a system occurs, it is called a traverse. A case of traverse is when plasticity mechanisms (at a lower level of organization), by their operations, create a neural network anatomy (at a higher level of organization). Another case is the actual production of behavior by that network, whereby the mechanisms of neuronal activity operate to create motor actions. Practopoietic theory explains why the adaptability of a system increases with each increase in the number of traverses. With a larger number of traverses, a system can be relatively small and yet, produce a higher degree of adaptive/intelligent behavior than a system with a lower number of traverses. The present analyses indicate that the two well-known traverses-neural plasticity and neural activity-are not sufficient to explain human mental capabilities. At least one additional traverse is needed, which is named anapoiesis for its contribution in reconstructing knowledge e.g., from long-term memory into working memory. The conclusions bear implications for brain theory, the mind-body explanatory gap, and developments of artificial intelligence technologies.Comment: Revised version in response to reviewer comment

Solving the binding problem: cellular adhesive molecules and their control of the cortical quantum entangled network

Quantum entanglement is shown to be the only acceptable physical solution to the binding problem. The biological basis of interneuronal entanglement is described in the frames of the beta-neurexin-neuroligin model developed by Georgiev (2002) and is proposed novel mechanism for control of the neurons that are temporarily entangled to produce every single conscious moment experienced as present. The model provides psychiatrists with ‘deeper’ understanding of the functioning of the psyche in normal and pathologic conditions

Perspectives for proof unwinding by programming languages techniques

In this chapter, we propose some future directions of work, potentially beneficial to Mathematics and its foundations, based on the recent import of methodology from the theory of programming languages into proof theory. This scientific essay, written for the audience of proof theorists as well as the working mathematician, is not a survey of the field, but rather a personal view of the author who hopes that it may inspire future and fellow researchers