Mr G should not be hasty in drawing 2 lines on the subject of dispute
without understanding the basics. KR IRs 191122
Q2 Is quantum physics behind your brain's ability to think? (New
scientists)
>From consciousness to long-term memories, the human brain has some peculiar
computing abilities – and they could be explained by quantum fuzziness
MATTHEW FISHER was wary of how his peers would react to his latest
project. In the end he was relieved he wasn’t laughed out of court. “They
told me that this is sensible science – I’m not crazy.”
Certainly nothing in Fisher’s CV says crazy. A specialist in the
quantum properties of materials, he worked at IBM and then at Microsoft’s
Research Station Q developing quantum computers. He is now a professor at
the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California
Santa Barbara. This year he won a share of the American Physical Society’s
Oliver E. Buckley prize in condensed matter physics, many recipients of
which have gone on to win a Nobel.
The thing was, he had broached a subject many physicists would rather
simply avoid.
“Does the brain use quantum mechanics? That’s a perfectly legitimate
question,” says Fisher. On one level, he is right – and the answer is yes.
The brain is composed of atoms, and atoms follow the laws of quantum
physics. But Fisher is really asking whether the strange properties of
quantum objects – being in two places at once, seeming to instantly
influence each other over distance and so on – could explain
still-perplexing aspects of human cognition. And that, it turns out, is a
very contentious question indeed.
The most basic objection comes from Occam’s razor, the principle that
says the simplest explanation is usually the best. In this view, current
non-quantum ideas of the brain’s workings are doing just fine. “The
evidence is building up that we can explain everything interesting about
the mind in terms of interactions of neurons,” says philosopher Paul
Thagard of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Physicist David
Deutsch of the University of Oxford agrees. “Is there any need to invoke
quantum physics to explain cognition?” he asks. “I don’t know of one, and
I’d be amazed if one emerges.”
*Fisher is less sure*, pointing out that current ideas about memories
are far from watertight – for example, that they are stored in the
architecture of neuron networks or in the junctions between neurons. “My
gut instinct is that neuroscience has lots of things that remain puzzling,”
says Fisher. So why not see if there are better quantum explanations?
Perhaps because we’ve been here before. In 1989, Oxford mathematician
Roger Penrose proposed that no standard, classical model of computing would
ever explain how the brain produces thought and conscious experience. The
suggestion intrigued a lot of people, not least an Arizona-based
anaesthetist called Stuart Hameroff, who suggested a specific way for
quantum effects to get involved.
The crux of the idea was that microtubules – protein tubes that make
up neurons’ support structure – exploit quantum effects to exist in
“superpositions” of two different shapes at once. Each of these shapes
amounts to a bit of classical information, so this shape-shifting quantum
bit, or qubit, can store twice as much information as its classical
counterpart.******
Add entanglement to the mix – a quantum feature that allows qubit
states to remain intertwined even when not in contact – and you rapidly
build a quantum computer that can manipulate and store information far more
efficiently than any classical computer. In fact, Penrose suggested, the
way such a computer can arrive at many answers simultaneously, and combine
those answers in different ways, would be just the thing to explain the
brain’s peculiar genius.
Penrose and Hameroff collaborated on the idea, and they and others
kicked it around as a sensible proposal for a while. But holes soon began
to appear.
From a physicist’s perspective, the most fundamental problem was
coherence time. Superposition and entanglement are both extremely fragile
phenomena. Think of a human pyramid of performers crossing a high wire on a
unicycle and you get the idea. The slightest disturbance and their grip
slips. In the case of a quantum system, it will “decohere” to a
bog-standard classical state if disturbed by heat, a mechanical vibration
or anything else. The information stored in the quantum states is generally
lost to the surrounding environment.
This problem has hampered attempts over the past two decades by
physicists, Fisher included, to engineer a quantum computer of any
significant size. Even in cryogenically cooled and mechanically isolated
conditions, it’s a struggle to keep qubit networks coherent for long enough
to do anything beyond the capabilities of classical computers.
In the warm, wet brain, with its soup of jiggling, jostling molecules,
it becomes almost impossible. Neurons hold information for microseconds at
a time or more while processing it, but calculations suggest that the
microtubule superpositions would last only between 10-20 and 10-13 seconds.
Neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland summed up what came to be the
mainstream view: “Pixie dust in the synapses is about as explanatorily
powerful as quantum coherence in the microtubules,” she wrote in 1996.
“Maintaining quantum effects in the warm, wet brain should be
impossible”
Fisher shared that scepticism. “When they started talking about
microtubules, I knew immediately it didn’t make sense,” he says. “It’s
impossible to work with quantum information unless you can control it and
keep it from entangling with the environment.”
But equally, he thought, wouldn’t it be odd if evolution hadn’t
worked that out? Life has had billions of years to “discover” quantum
mechanics, and its exquisite molecular apparatus gives it the means to
exploit it. Even if electrical impulses among neurons within the brain –
something well described by classical physics – are the immediate basis of
thought and memory, a hidden quantum layer might determine, in part, how
those neurons correlate and fire.
Fisher’s personal interest in the subject began in a rather
roundabout way, while wondering about the persistence of mental illness
among people close to him, as well as the efficacy of the drugs used to
treat them. “No one truly knows how any of the psychiatric pharmaceutical’s
work,” he says. There’s a reason for that. It would require a much better
understanding of what the drugs are trying to modify: the human mind.
The initial focus of Fisher’s interest was lithium, an ingredient of
many moods stabilising drugs. As he combed the scientific literature, he
happened across one particular report from 1986 that gave him pause for
thought. It described an experiment in which rats were fed one of the two
stable isotopes of lithium: lithium-6 and lithium-7. When it came to
grooming, nursing of pups, nest-building, feeding and several other
measures, those fed lithium-6 were enormously more active than control
groups or those fed lithium-7 (Biological Psychiatry, vol 21, p 1258).
It was this paper that led Fisher *to think it might be time* to open
the whole quantum cognition can of worms once again. All atomic nuclei,
like the fundamental particles that make them up, have a quantum-mechanical
property called spin. Crudely, spin quantifies how much a nucleus “feels”
electric and magnetic fields; the higher the spin, the greater the
interaction. A nucleus with the very lowest possible spin value, 1/2, feels
virtually no interaction with electric fields and only a very small
magnetic interaction. So in an environment such as the brain, where
electric fields abound, nuclei with a spin of 1/2 would be peculiarly
isolated from disturbance.
Spin-1/2 nuclei are not common in nature, but here’s the thing. The
spin value of lithium-6 is 1, but in the sort of chemical environment found
in the brain, a water-based salt solution, the presence of the water’s
extra protons is known to make it act like a spin-1/2 nucleus. Experiments
as long ago as the 1970s had noted that lithium-6 nuclei could hold their
spin steady for as long as 5 minutes. If there is an element of quantum
control to the brain’s computation, Fisher reasoned, lithium’s calming
effects might be down to the incorporation of these peculiarly coherent
nuclei into the brain’s chemistry.
And not just that. Lithium-6 does not occur naturally in the brain,
but one nucleus with a spin-1/2 does, and it is an active participant in
many biochemical reactions: phosphorus. The seed in Fisher’s mind was
beginning to sprout. “If quantum processing is going on in the brain,
phosphorus’s nuclear spin is the only way it could occur,” Fisher says.
After exhaustive calculations of the coherence times of various
phosphorus-based molecules in biological settings, Fisher has now gone
public with a candidate qubit. It is a calcium phosphate structure known as
a Posner molecule or cluster. It was identified in bone mineral in 1975 and
has also been seen floating around when simulated body fluids – that is,
water with added biological molecules and mineral salts – are concocted in
the lab. When Fisher estimated the coherence time for these molecules, it
came out as a whopping 105 seconds – a whole day.
He has also identified at least one chemical reaction in the brain
that he thinks would naturally manufacture entangled, coherent states
between nuclear spins within Posner molecules. It is a process involved in
calcium absorption and fat metabolism that uses an enzyme called
pyrophosphatase. This enzyme breaks down structures made of two interlinked
phosphate ions, producing two single ions. Theoretically, at least, the
nuclear spins in these two ions should be quantum entangled. Release them
into the fluid surrounding the cells, and they can combine with calcium
ions to form Posner molecules.
If this is all correct, the brain’s extracellular fluid could be
awash with complex clusters of highly entangled Posner molecules. Once
inside the neurons, these molecules could begin to alter the way the cells
signal and respond, starting to form thoughts and memories (see diagram).
Fisher published the details of his proposal in Annals of Physics
last month (vol 362, p 593). Much of it, he admits, is highly speculative.
“I’m still at the stage of telling stories,” he says. “I have to get some
experiments done.”
The c-word
The first test will be whether Posner molecules exist in real extracellular
fluids. If they do, can they be entangled? Fisher envisages testing this in
the lab by inducing the chemical reactions suspected to entangle phosphorus
nuclear spins, pouring the resulting solution into two test tubes and
looking for quantum correlations between light given out from the two.
Observe such correlations, and you might just begin to make a case for
quantum cognition. “That test can be done, and I’ll make sure it is done,”
says Fisher.
Penrose is – perhaps predictably – excited by the story so far.
“Stuart Hameroff and I have been of the opinion that nuclear spins might be
an important ingredient of long-term memory for quite a while,” he says.
“Matthew Fisher’s idea could well provide a very positive contribution to
this picture.”
Penrose still pins his colours to his microtubule hypothesis,
however, seeing the new proposal as a mere add-on that allows for lasting
memory. “The phenomenon of consciousness is much more likely to be
connected with the quantum actions of interconnected microtubules,” he says.
For Penrose, consciousness has to do with gravity acting on quantum
states and thus causing them to decohere; microtubules are more massive
than nuclei, and thus more likely to be the cause of this interaction, he
says. Fisher would rather not go down this road, and says he has studiously
avoided any mention of the c-word – consciousness – in his paper,
concentrating instead on better-defined concepts such as memory.
His proposal might not be crazy, but does it do enough to convince
sceptics to look again for quantum effects in the brain? Thagard declares
himself open-minded. He points to evidence that has accumulated in the past
quarter-century showing that other biological processes, such as
photosynthesis, involve long-lived coherent quantum states. Vlatko Vedral
of the University of Oxford also sees some value in Fisher’s work. The idea
that a warm, wet brain is too messy to have useful coherences is
“simple-minded”, he says. Beyond that, he is not sure what exact part
Fisher’s mechanism might play. “But at least he has suggested experiments
that might be able to probe this issue further,” he says.
“The idea that the brain is too messy for quantum effects is
simple-minded”
If there is any hint of success, Fisher has plenty of ideas lined up to
test. There’s the lithium question, and also whether related spin effects
might explain mercury’s influence on the brain – the phenomenon that became
known as mad hatter disease, because hat-making traditionally involved
prolonged exposure to mercury. Some commonly abundant isotopes of mercury
have non-zero nuclear spin and might decohere phosphorus nuclear spins if
caught inside a Posner molecule.
The questions keep coming. Does a bang on the head induce memory loss
because it causes decoherence? Is nuclear spin the reason you can change
brain states with transcranial magnetic stimulation, which fires a magnetic
field across the brain? Fisher is working with neuroscientists and
molecular biologists at Stanford University in California, where he is now
on sabbatical, to address such questions. Most have taken a lot of
convincing; he admits.
Johnjoe McFadden, a molecular biologist at the University of Surrey in
Guildford, UK, is one researcher who remains to be persuaded. He once again
invokes Occam’s razor. “There are too many bits of it that need to hold
together to make a coherent story,” he says. “If any one aspect goes
missing, it all falls apart.”
Thagard, too, is waiting for the fall. “Do you need that extra level
of explanation to account for interesting psychological phenomena? I don’t
think so,” he says. But that’s no reason not to seriously evaluate such
proposals, he adds. “One of the great strengths of science is that people
try different approaches and you get competing explanations. That’s all
good. I’m just putting my money on a different one.”
Fisher meanwhile is putting his money where his mouth is: he has
spent $20,000 of his own cash filing a patent on treating depression and
similar mental conditions with compounds enriched in lithium-6. Perhaps
appropriately, though, he remains in two minds about whether it will lead
anywhere. “Could quantum cognition make sense of these things that are
missing from our understanding of neuroscience?” he asks reflexively.
“Maybe, yes.” (New Scientist Magazine) [KR IRS May be 191122]
On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 at 13:07, 'gopala krishnan' via Thatha_Patty <
[email protected]> wrote:
> *CULTURAL QA 11-2022-19*
>
> *BEING A COMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS*
>
> *Q1 Can you tell about Railways Track inspection trolly in india*
>
> A1 Kelvintrolley,7h
>
> Rails are such an embedded part of our society now that we seldom even
> notice them there. They have become a natural truth. *But we seldom take
> the time and the labor that goes into keeping the rail and the tracks
> ship-shape, without any defects.*
>
> *But the fact is, the rail tracks often develop defects, many times
> considerable enough to cause the obstruction in the rail path. And in
> extreme cases, it can also lead to major accidents.*
>
> But the railways track inspectors work laboriously to avoid such mishaps.
> Which is where a Railway Track Push Trolly comes in. Since the rail
> inspections are carried out only on the surface initially*, to get an
> idea of what exactly the damage is, the trolley is used for the task.*
>
> Hand driven usually by two people while the track inspectors sitting on
> the designed seat, a Railways Track Push Trolley enables a careful and
> thorough inspection without any inconveniences. It's an all-mechanical
> trolley with no electrical technology involved to suit the nature of the
> inspection, which often involves multiple stops along the way.
>
> *The Railway Track Push Trolley is also very ingeniously designed keeping
> in mind the safety factors*. It can easily be lifted by a couple of men
> in case there is ever an emergency, like an incoming train on the same
> track or a mechanical fault in the trolley.
>
> *My note- The officials who carryout such job is called Permanent way
> inspector. While I was* working in Sankagiri in Salem District I had two
> room mates who were PMWI. Those days trolley was manually pushed, now
> they too sit and defective points noted and attended by them. In spite of
> it many breaks occur in the rails. One of the reasons is the tracks are not
> periodically replaced. Another reason is large number of trains and
> superfast trains running.
>
> There is an upper limit the rails can bear. Further the rails are jointed
> without giving small breaks for expansion. Hence the tensile strength is
> reduced.
>
> *Q2 What are the functions of the atoms found in the brain?*
>
> A2 Ken Saladin,Freelance author of jest and mirth Nov 12
>
> Their purpose is to keep the brain inflated (expanded) to its normal size
> to fill the cranial cavity. If there were no atoms in the brain, it would
> shrink dramatically and rattle around in the skull when we walk. But
> ridding the body of atoms is a sure way to lose weight.
>
> *Q3 Are poor Americans equivalent to rich Indians in terms of
> financial status?.*
>
> A3 Samantha Kannan, Founder at UngaEnglish.com3y
>
> Absolutely not. Rich people in India live better than even rich people in
> America, in my opinion.
>
> I've spoken briefly on my time as a poor American. I know a few wealthy
> Indians, and they have it made - super high interest bank accounts, intense
> respect given to them by everyone, maids/cooks/drivers, whoa.
>
> Poor Americans? Struggling to find their next meal, judgement from others,
> health issues common because medical care is too costly.
>
> Even rich Americans, in my opinion, don’t live as well as rich Indians. I
> lived in a mansion for a few years and they didn’t have a driver or cook.
> Their neighbors were rude to them because their house was the biggest in
> the neighbourhood. Wealth seemed more like a burden than an asset.
>
> Whoever wrote this question should visit India and stop relying on
> whatever nonsense media they've been consuming.
>
> *Q4 How much time will India take to reduce its dependence on
> other countries for oil and switch to another means of energy sources?*
>
> A4 Balaji Viswanathan, Used to trade oil futures4y
>
> *It has to come in multiple steps:*
>
> Electrify all the trains: Indian Railways is the largest consumer of
> Diesel in India and in the next few years every locomotive will run on
> electricity (hopefully!) — Piyush Goyal wants it by 2020 — Railways targets
> full electrification with Rs 35000-crore plan although the finance ministry
> is pushing the deadline further so as to not waste the existing Diesel
> infrastructure.
>
> Building dedicated freight corridors to reduce trucks. Indian railways
> has been building dedicated freight corridors to reduce dependency on
> trucks and diesel. East, West freight corridors likely to be commissioned
> by March 2020
>
> *They are also working on taking smaller loads away from trucks — Indian
> Railways new dwarf* containers have 67% more volume; could be a
> game-changer in capturing high-end traffic
>
> Move majority of the personal transportation to trains: In the next 10
> years, almost every city in India would have metro trains and that would
> mean significant number of people would be using trains running on
> electricity than cars running on petrol. India to build 700 km of new metro
> lines
>
> We have to be like western Europe in this — in England and the Netherlands
> majority use trains and public transportation.
>
> From the trains to their homes, have electric buses: Indian cities are now
> heavily investing in electric buses. Delhi to Fight Toxic Air with 1,000
> Electric Buses - Mercom India and India’s first-ever hydrogen fuel cell
> powered bus by Tata Motors is here!
>
> . Also combine this with cycles for last mile travel.
>
> Move all electricity production to renewables and nuclear: India is
> heavily investing in solar, wind and nuclear and should generate most of
> its energy from these sources than coal and petroleum. India added more
> energy capacity from renewables than coal last year
>
> Electrify all the homes: In the next 4 years every home should be
> electrified and that should reduce the Kerosene consumption significantly.
> India to achieve universal electrification under Saubhagya scheme
>
> India’s future is not electric car. But, it is in electric buses and
> metro trains. And electricity produced with renewables in combination with
> nuclear [for night time] and new age battery technologies that doesn’t use
> Lithium — World’s first thermal battery plant to be unveiled in Andhra
> Pradesh today.
>
> I would say this is entirely possible in 20 years. By 2040, India’s metro
> trains and railways infrastructure, along with buses running on
> electricity/fuel cells in combination with other last mile infrastructure
> will remove the need for oil.
>
> *Q5 What are the pros and cons of working with multinational
> corporations (MNCs) or Indian Railways, as a train ticket examiner?*
>
> A5 Himanshu Chaudhary, A techie with Deep Knowledge of the
> Systems and Operations.2h
>
> Generally, in India, passenger fares of trains are heavily
> over-subsidised. There is a dire need and necessity for train fares to be
> ...
>
> *The exploitation of laborers: The multinational* cooperation gives all
> the facilities to locals to learn skills and after that, the company ...
>
> Comparison Table Advantages and Disadvantages of Rail Transportation
>
> *Advantages*
>
> Trains are generally more reliable
>
> No rail service / limited service in rural or hilly areas
>
> Freight by rail is efficient. Under-utilised capacity
>
> Provides employment opportunities.Significant contributor of sound and air
> pollution
>
> *My note- The answer is not at all to the question asked. I have included
> this for the fact, quora* have many such QA. I select the best.
> Probably the person meant TTE, a permanent job is far superior than a
> multinational company, where the job is always floating.
>
> *Q6 Is it possible to install a toilet in a very small bathroom?*
>
> A6 Gopala Krishnan,Former Assistant General Manager 1996-2004
> at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now
>
> In my home in Kerala One toilet was constructed about 1.5 feet away from
> outer wall, but connected with wall and roofing with a room. It was twin
> home. Though bathrooms were provided separately, toilet was common. One
> family occupying wanted a closet in the small area attached to a room.
> One closet was provided in an area of 1.5 feet width and length of three
> feet and connected to the outlet pipe of the main toilet. A window in that
> location was removed and twin planks door was provided opening towards the
> room. An exhaust window was provided for air movement.
>
> *There are many things to compromise if you install a toilet in a small
> bathroom. If one is ready, it is possible*
>
> *Q7 How often should you replace your air conditioner (AC) unit
> if it's still working well?*
>
> A7 Tiberius Kraemer,Former Electronics Tech, H.V.A.C. Design
> Engineer at Blue Star Maintenance (1965–2015)Thu
>
> The answer to your question depends on your financial reality. If you are
> rich, replace the air conditioner whenever it gets dusty. However, if you
> are sensible, you will replace it when it quits working.
>
> *Q8 What parts of our body use de-oxygenated blood?*
>
> A8 Ken Saladin, Former professor of histology (microscopic
> anatomy)Mon
>
> Every part of the body uses it. The blood has many more functions than
> transporting oxygen. Besides that, even “deoxygenated” blood normally
> contains over 70% as much oxygen as “oxygenated” blood fresh from the
> lungs, *so it still provides oxygen to the tissues.*
>
> *Q9 How do I reduce wastewater in a RO system?*
>
> A9 Gopala Krishnan,Former Assistant General Manager 1996-2004
> at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now
>
> *In R O system, waste water is inevitable*. This water can be used for
> cleaning portico, entrance to home, and even for watering plants. So the
> waste water becomes usable water. Only thing we have to make arrangement
> to store the waste water. Or you can simply extend the waste water to
> garden area. 99% plants absorb it and flower.
>
> *Q10 Do you keep your toilet brush in the bathroom or in a
> cupboard?*
>
> A10 Gopala Krishnan,Former Assistant General Manager 1996-2004 at
> Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now
>
> *I have provided special tooth brush older with facility to drain water in
> all bathrooms*. I also have small size cup board near wash basin. I use
> both which ever is convenient. The cup is provided at a height of about 5
> feet away from closet. So the answer is in both ways
>
> *All the above QA are from Quora website on 18-11- 2022.*
>
> *Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers .*
>
> *Compiled **and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on 19-11-2022*
>
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