Russell Standish wrote: > On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 01:57:07PM -0700, Brent Meeker wrote: > >>>What are the ingredients of a conscious computer ? Perhaps >>>one essential component is a central processing unit that depends on quantum >>>randomness to arrive at a decision when other factors balance out. >> >>I don't think there's any reason to suppoose quantum randomness plays a role >>in human >>consciousness - and there are some reasons to think it doesn't, e.g. see >>Tegmarks >>paper. There is plenty of environmental "noise" to prevent Buridan's ass >>from starving. >> >>Brent Meeker >> > > > Tegmark's paper looked specifically at quantum computing as a model > for consciousness (ie Penrose's suggestion), and the requirements of > quantum coherent states. He didn't look at quantum noise effects. > > There is evidence in the form of brains being structured to behave > chaotically (in the classical deterministic chaos sense) (see Walter > Freeman's work). This has the effect of amplifying randomness at the > molecular (thermal) level, which ultimately depends on quantum > randomness, to the macroscopic brain level. > > This may be coincidental, but I think not. Your PC is engineered to > avoid the effects of chaos to prevent this very thing occurring. Why > wouldn't nature do the same thing unless it were deliberately trying > to exploit randomness?
In nature there's no reason to depend on amplifying quantum randomness - there's plenty of "random" environmental input to keep our brains from getting stuck in loops. Brent Meeker --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
