Quantum Consciousness : The Hidden Science of the Mind and the Universe

Transcript

What if your mind is not electrical signals in your head? What if consciousness itself, the sense of being you and is an integral part of the quantum fabric of existence? Science has tried to define consciousness as chemistry and classical physics for decades now. But something doesn't quite work. We can chart every neuron, every chemical process, but no one can tell us how they become experience. That enigma is referred to as the hard problem of consciousness. While all that's happening on the surface of reality, down in the quantum realm, things get strange.

Particles exist in two places simultaneously. They can tunnel through obstacles. They can even get entangled behaving as a single entity regardless of distance. These are not special effects from science fiction movies. These are actual demonstrated quantum phenomena.

Imagine this. What if the brain exploits these quantum tricks in order to think? This is the realm of quantum biology. And some scientists hypothesized that maybe the mind itself is a quantum effect. Physicist Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Steuart Hammeroff proposed an out there idea that small structures within your brain cells, microtubules, could store quantum information. They claim your flashes of awareness occur when these quantum states collapse.

Tiny pings of consciousness occurring billions of times per second. That is, each thought could be a quantum event. If that's the case, then consciousness can't be merely the result of the brain. It's an intrinsic property of existence like space, time, or energy. We may not possess consciousness.

We may be consciousness. Skeptics caution the brain is too warm and noisy to have quantum states. But recent research uncovers quantum effects persist even in biological systems, in photosynthesis, in bird navigation, even in the sense of smell. If nature uses quantum physics to process information, why not the brain? Think about it. Your mind might be a quantum computer made of living matter.

Your thoughts could ripple through the universe at the speed of entanglement. And maybe, just maybe, consciousness is how the universe becomes aware of itself. We're only beginning to glimpse the truth. The question isn't just how the brain creates consciousness. It's why the universe gives rise to conscious life in the first place.

Perhaps the answer was within you and beyond you the entire time because you are quantum. The more we know about consciousness, the more we know about reality itself.