Reply to Marion

Marion: To answer your question, Vic Stenger, a physicist at
the U of Hawaii, has just written a book on the subject.
(The title is something like the Quantum Mind or Quantum Brain).
It is, or will be, available from Prometheus Books this Fall.
Stenger does not think QM is necessary to explain consciousness
or other mental activities. His argument is that the product
of the mass (m) of neurotransmitters secreted at the synapse times
the velocity (v) of molecules at body temperature times the distance
(d) the molecules must travel before binding to their receptors is
about more than 100 times Planck's constant. For quantum effects to
be important, the product mvd should be of the same order as
PC.
Another argument, from to Penrose, is that the microtubles of
the brain cells might show QM effects. However, microtubles are even
larger than neurotransmitter molecules. Even if mt's had QM effects in
the nervous system, why not also in the Liver and other organs where
they are also prominent?
The other point raised in your post is speed. The brain
is a massively parallel computer, so while the speed of each element
is low, the ensemble can carry out an enormous number of operations
per unit time.

--John

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