Hi Stephen,
On 20 Feb 2010, at 19:52, Stephen P. King wrote:
Nature has repeatedly proven herself to be vastly more
clever than we can imagine. Quantum coherence is used in
photosynthesis by plants to increase the efficiency of photon energy
capture by the use of structures that act to hold decoherence off
just in the right place for long enough. I will leave it up to the
experimentalists to explain the structures.
There may be some new evidences. It is good to stay the most open
minded possible.
He pretends that his trivial model is exact enough to
prove that there can be no exploitable coherence effects. I only
claim that the brain is exploiting coherence effects at small scales
that would allow for increased efficiencies. I am considering an
idea different from that of Hameroff based on resonance damping. But
Hameroff’s discussions minus the “Objective Reduction” stuff, IMO,
is still valid.
I can follow you.
See:http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/pdfs/decoherence.pdf
**
Thanks. Look interesting.
***
From the evidence we have so far, quantum effects seem limited to
existing within the cells and not between them, but there may be
protocols that allow for exploitation between cells. I am trying to
figure this out but am very limited in my ability.
**
Please, keep us informed if there are progresses in that direction.
Ok, maybe I was a bit harsh on Tegmark, but nevertheless how many
research grant proposals have been shot down because of his paper? I
myself have the blunt force of it on my timid querries.
I can understand. It is like Minsky and Paper for then neural nets.
Scientist should be cautious when talking on possibilities and
impossibilities.
But it is difficult. I found Tegmark paper honest and almost
convincing. Not 100% convincing, because there is a sense nature
harness "high level chemistry" since a very long time, and decoherence/
coherence is a rather tricky notion, and we have already be taken by
surprise (with superconduction, laser, etc.).
And then, as far as science talk about reality, it can never be 100%
convincing. Science is doubt.
My only complaint with your work is that it reduces the physical
world to epiphenomena
What? With all my respect, I disagree :)
and in so doing seems no better that material monism.
I will make some coffee.
I like that it does not ignore consciousness as it puts logic in its
core notions, but there still something missing. There is no
necessity for there to be the phenomena of a physical world evolving
in time in Comp.
You worried me, but I see you just have not yet seen the point. It is
OK. It is a very subtle point, where "Aristotelians" can have some
difficulties. Actually, recently an expert on Aristotle confirmed my
feeling (after my reading of Aristotle and Plotinus), that Aristotle
got that "subtle point", and that Plotinus found indeed the most
plausible correction of Aristotle theory of Matter coherent with the
Plato type of "reality/truth/God".
Matter is no more an epiphenomenon than consciousness. If you really
insist to see an epiphenomenon in comp, you may say that it is the
whole coupling matter/consciousness which is an epiphenomenon bearing
on the number theoretical relations.
Not only comp preserves and give a role to consciousness, but it
preserves the interaction of mind and matter. And this in the usual
two way directions.
You can define a cosmos, or a cosmic history, by a set of "events" and
their closure for matter-matter interactions, and those are very
solid, given that they sum up the whole (sigma_1) arithmetical truth
"everywhere".
You can define an accessible multiverse, by the the closure mind-
matter interaction, this extend vastly any observable cosmos or
branch of reality. It makes possible to share our dreams. It makes
possible all couplings of Universal machines with themselves.
The multiverse is just not the whole thing, eventually it is the
border of the ignorance of 'God''. Matter is the highly indeterminate
part of the arithmetical reality when trying to see itself. It forces
the appearance of indeterminacies for each local entities trying to
figure out what it is made of, when getting near its substitution level.
Now, if you want a "time" à-la Prigogine, i.e. if you want time
fundamental and primitive, then neither comp nor general relativity
nor Plato, nor Plotinus, nor any theory with a notion of block -
ontological thing can satisfy you. But this is not related to the
"epiphenomena" question. With comp, the simplest ontology is the block-
(sigma_1) arithmetical truth, or the universal dovetailing trace
(UD*), but from this emerges, as seen form inside (defined by the
hypostases) a coupling consciousness/matter, but also a coupling <what
is Its name>/consciousness, and other "hypostatic" couplings.
You may say that matter is an epiphenomenon when seen *directly*
relatively to "God". "God" probably cannot act on matter, but "God"
can act on consciousness, and consciousness can act on matter, and
matter can act on consciousness which can act on God. Very roughly
speaking; You may try to read the ennead "on the two matter" by
Plotinus.
Somehow matter is what the souls do, when they fall. And it is what
they use, if only to come back. Sort of dynamical two ways road,
perhaps the famous Chu transform (you talked to me about sometimes ago).
If you read Plotinus, you may be unpleased by the (common among
Platonists) identification of matter with evil, but this is related to
the fact that matter is mainly built on an absolute and infinite first
person(plural) indeterminacy (cf "God" cannot tell you in advance if
you will wake up in Washington or Moscow, and your next state, as an
observer, is determined by an infinity of computations).
Note that the Löbian machines explain both the intelligible matter
(the necessity of the quanta and their laws), and the sensible matter
(the necessity of private qualia, and their laws). And quanta appear
to be qualia, albeit first person plural sharable. And, thanks to
local brains and hands, minds can manipulate both of them.
With comp, matter is no more primitive, but still fundamental.
I hope this can help.
Best Regards,
Bruno Marchal
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/
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