From: John Devers ® 26/08/00 15:21:13 Subject: Brains quantum computer post id: 122959 Now that the 5 bit quantum computer is in use and works, does anyone think that we may have this quantum computing power available in the brain? J.D. From: Edward ® 26/08/00 15:47:41 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 122973 No idea, but people are always looking for anything that helps explain how the brain works. From: Robert ® 26/08/00 16:30:37 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 122983 In our brains? Parallel processing - certainly. Quantum computing - don't think so From: John Devers ® 26/08/00 16:34:50 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 122985 Why not? Do you know what a Josephson junction is? Have you read about superconductivity in magnetic fields? J.D. From: Robert ® 26/08/00 16:51:10 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 122993 As far as I understand it, the brain works as a lump of *lots* of neurones with *lots* of interconnections, and there is a synapse at each connection. As the action potential heads down the axon towards the synapse, it must be above a certain threshold strength at the synapse or there is too much inhibition and the signal doesn't get through - the "all or none" principle. I can't really see any room for something like a superposition of states being employed in the brain - the neural description seems sufficent. Anyhow, the brain is far too warm and uncontrolled to have a nice superposition - surely decoherence would kick in and kill it in a matter of femtoseconds - that's why they need very cold, insulated and protected machines; otherwise you lose the superposition and no more funky quantumness. From: John Devers ® 26/08/00 17:04:01 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 122997 Quantum software can only be used once. Once you retrieve the memory, you must make the sft. again the brain could do this maybe? You could do it in a femtosecond. From: John Devers ® 26/08/00 17:18:26 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 122998 Obviously a quantum computer is making the calculation somewhere, if one quantum computer can not interfere with another quantum computer in this realm then it may be that they are calculating in seperate 2d universes or dimensions. J.D. From: John Devers ® 27/08/00 17:23:59 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 123413 Robert,you said this As the action potential heads down the axon towards the synapse, it must be above a certain threshold strength at the synapse or there is too much inhibition and the signal doesn't get through - the "all or none" principle. I can't really see any room for something like a superposition of states being employed in the brain have you heard of virtual electrons this may occure in that "all or none" principle part of the synapse reaction? From: Robert ® 27/08/00 18:05:17 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 123430 have you heard of virtual electrons this may occure in that "all or none" principle part of the synapse reaction? Too macroscopic for that (I think?) From: Robert ® 27/08/00 18:26:09 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 123442 There is no current - it does this weird propagation thing where some chemicals go in and some go out, and you get this spike that goes down the neuron. (great description I know) :-p From: Robert ® 27/08/00 18:33:46 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 123448 Yeah - but either the other neurone fires or it doesn't (or is that a false dichotomy?) Anyhow, if we did have a bit of quantum computing power, then wouldn't we all be decrypting gurus? What two prime numbers are multiplied to give 354,249,234,456,198,130,644,488,786,235? (That was just random, you get the point) From: John Devers ® 27/08/00 18:37:36 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 123450 No, because the software must be written in the brain that isn't in the quantum world. From: Robert ® 27/08/00 18:39:34 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 123453 I don't know - what implications would you expect then if it was true? From: John Devers ® 27/08/00 18:49:38 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 123459 Just a greater understanding of where pictures in the mind may be formed and our consciousness is able to view them. It would also explain why our consciousness is cut off from the body during death. It may exist outside this 4D world with just one link from a 2D world that needs the 4D for all the things that can be done in it. J.D. From: John Devers ® 2/09/00 21:31:04 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 127386 Just a small note to add which may be appropriate to the subject. Organic Superconductors have been discovered, see Nature 17 aug. 2000 no.6797. These SCs are insulators that become superconducting when injected with a charge and having their temperature lowered. From: John Devers ® 5/10/00 2:29:03 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 144565 Could the brains parrallel processing be viewed in this way at all? Quantum computers can be viewed as programable quantum computer interferomiters. Initially prepared in a superposition of all the possible input states ,the computation evolves in parrallel along all its possible paths, which will interfere constructivly towards the desired output. From: Robert ® 5/10/00 11:39:50 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 144710 John, In my opinion - no - but what if we did make a brain out of a quantum computer! This is the way I see it: The brain is a bunch of neurones that are interconnected, there are input neurones and output neurones (for each task). Now, when a certain thought/sensation is processed, there is a specific path that is 'fired' for that thought/sensation. This is based on the threshold or all-or-nothing principle I've explained before. This can be modelled electronically using a 1 for a fire and 0 for a miss, and connecting a whole bunch of nodes and setting up inputs and outputs. This is how your basic Artifical Neural Network (ANN) works, as I understand it. Now what if we made the ANN quantum? Wouldn't we get a sort "sum of all possible paths" effect, so that every possible thought is experienced at once? Or what would happen? I think it would be easier for the artifical brain to be quantum, than for the organic - simply because of the high demands of getting a functioning quantum computer in the first place. From: James R (Avatar) 5/10/00 12:25:02 Subject: re: Brains quantum computer post id: 144764 Personally, I doubt whether quantum-level processes are very important to the workings of the brain. Essentially, I imagine the brain is similar to a classical computer. This forum is un-moderated. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual poster and not the ABC. The ABC reserves the right to remove offensive or inappropriate messages.