I got this from the always-enriching Nonduality Blog. Deepak Chopra interviews Stuart Hameroff M.D., Professor Emeritus at the Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology, and Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies, at the University of Arizona. Here's a short excerpt:"I don't necessarily ascribe to any particular religion, but I think through quantum physics, three essential components of spirituality can have a plausible scientific explanation. Namely, these are first, interconnectedness among living beings via quantum entanglement. Second is guidance by Platonic wisdom. Penrose also embedded Platonic values in spacetime geometry which can guide our actions, and be viewed as following the way of the Tao, or divine guidance, or whatever you want to call it. And finally, even conceivably the possibility of afterlife or consciousness outside of the body. Because if consciousness is happening in the spacetime geometry, normally in the brain, then when the blood, oxygen and metabolic energy stop driving the classical auto-pilot activity, the quantum information extending to spacetime isn't destroyed, but can perhaps leak out or dissipate in a more holographic distribution, but remained entangled. So it's possible that a soul could exist afterwards in Planck scale geometry. There could be reincarnation. I don't have any proof, and I'm not saying this necessarily happens, but if it does, here is a plausible scientific explanation."
The interview is long and covers a lot of territory, but is not hard reading. Find it here on SFGate.
Thanks for posting the excerpt and the link. Interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm
I'll have to check this website. As you probably know, there's a lot of New-Age nonsense floating around that claims to be related to quantum mechanics, but this sounds as if it might be worth reading. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI'd add a fourth component, namely, the effects of observation: The universe changes, in measurable ways, when it's observed. In physics circles, the metaphysical issue this brings to the fore is called "the measurement problem."
Hameroff said:
ReplyDelete"Because if consciousness is happening in the spacetime geometry, normally in the brain, then when the blood, oxygen and metabolic energy stop driving the classical auto-pilot activity, the quantum information extending to spacetime isn't destroyed, but can perhaps leak out or dissipate in a more holographic distribution, but remained entangled."
IMHO Hameroff is stretching a scientific term (i.e., entanglement) to an unacceptable extent. Quantum entanglement is affected by decoherence. Hameroff has struggled to explain how quantum entanglement in brain microtubules can be sustained for the amounts of time which are required for quantum computing in the brain. Decoherence in the wet, warm brain makes prolonged entangled unlikely. However, he has figured out some mechanisms that could allow prolonged entanglement, and he deserves some credit. BTW, when I mention 'prolonged entanglement', I am talking about milliseconds!
OK, this is one thing. But the proposal that entanglement could persist even after death is a complete nonsense, from a Physical point of view (I mean, from the science of Physics).
So, the conclusion is that the entanglement referred by Hameroff is not the accepted, physical entanglement between wave-particles that scientists talk about. It is just some kind of 'esoteric entanglement' that he invented.
Hence, he is distorting a scientific term for his convenience (not a very scientific proceeding, huh?).