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Quantum Entanglement, Biophotons and Consciousness

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  • Quantum Entanglement, Biophotons and Consciousness

    There Are Biophotons in the Brain. Is Something Light-Based Going On?

    Over the last 100 years, scientists have realized, first in rats, that neurons in mammalian brains were capable of producing photons, or "biophotons." The photons appear, though faintly, within the visible spectrum, running from near-infrared through violet, or between 200 and 1,300 nanometers. The question is why?

    ...Are there optical communication channels in the brain? If the answer is yes, what’s being communicated? The very notion opens the conversation to a whole other level of operation in the brain that could even be on a previously undiscovered entangled quantum level.

    ...The axons could pass between 46% and 96% of the light they receive over a distance of 2 millimeters, the average length of a human brain’s axons, the percentage depending on bending, sheath thickness, etc. They also worked out that, though rat brains can pass just one biophoton per neuron a minute, human brains, with many more neurons, could convey more than a billion biophotons per second. All together, the researchers conclude, “This mechanism appears to be sufficient to facilitate transmission of a large number of bits of information, or even allow the creation of a large amount of quantum entanglement.”

    ...In the paper, the scientists are intrigued in particular with the interactions between photons and nuclear spins — the way nuclei turn causes different chemical effects — and how that affects things like magnetoreception in animals.

    ...Given that there’s some distance between the biophotons and nuclear spins, the scientists wonder if there’s entanglement involved, saying, “for individual quantum communication links to form a larger quantum network with an associated entanglement process involving many distant spins, the nuclear spins interfacing with different axons must interact coherently. This, most likely, requires close enough contact between the interacting spins. The involvement of synaptic junctions between individual axons may provide such a proximity mechanism.” And since some people think entanglement could be behind whatever process it is that produces consciousness, well, where is this going to lead?

    http://bigthink.com/robby-berman/the...based-going-on

    ==========

    What do you think?


  • #2
    Originally posted by Sparko View Post
    There Are Biophotons in the Brain. Is Something Light-Based Going On?

    Over the last 100 years, scientists have realized, first in rats, that neurons in mammalian brains were capable of producing photons, or "biophotons." The photons appear, though faintly, within the visible spectrum, running from near-infrared through violet, or between 200 and 1,300 nanometers. The question is why?

    ...Are there optical communication channels in the brain? If the answer is yes, what’s being communicated? The very notion opens the conversation to a whole other level of operation in the brain that could even be on a previously undiscovered entangled quantum level.

    ...The axons could pass between 46% and 96% of the light they receive over a distance of 2 millimeters, the average length of a human brain’s axons, the percentage depending on bending, sheath thickness, etc. They also worked out that, though rat brains can pass just one biophoton per neuron a minute, human brains, with many more neurons, could convey more than a billion biophotons per second. All together, the researchers conclude, “This mechanism appears to be sufficient to facilitate transmission of a large number of bits of information, or even allow the creation of a large amount of quantum entanglement.”

    ...In the paper, the scientists are intrigued in particular with the interactions between photons and nuclear spins — the way nuclei turn causes different chemical effects — and how that affects things like magnetoreception in animals.

    ...Given that there’s some distance between the biophotons and nuclear spins, the scientists wonder if there’s entanglement involved, saying, “for individual quantum communication links to form a larger quantum network with an associated entanglement process involving many distant spins, the nuclear spins interfacing with different axons must interact coherently. This, most likely, requires close enough contact between the interacting spins. The involvement of synaptic junctions between individual axons may provide such a proximity mechanism.” And since some people think entanglement could be behind whatever process it is that produces consciousness, well, where is this going to lead?

    http://bigthink.com/robby-berman/the...based-going-on

    ==========

    What do you think?
    Interesting, but I'm not sure what to make of it. On one end, it could be just an ancillary consequence of certain chemical reactions that does nothing. On the other, if there is any advantage to be gleaned by a response to or use of those photons, millions of years of evolution just might have been able to extract that advantage. So it is certainly worth investigating. Whether or not it implies some physical evidence of the soul - I would think that one would probably take a while to rise above the level of the basis of a nifty Sci-fi story :)

    Jim
    Last edited by oxmixmudd; 11-17-2017, 09:08 AM.
    My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. James 2:1

    If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not  bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless James 1:26

    This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; James 1:19

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by oxmixmudd View Post
      Interesting, but I'm not sure what to make of it. On one end, it could be just an ancillary consequence of certain chemical reactions that does nothing. On the other, if there is any advantage to be gleaned by a response to or use of those photons, millions of years of evolution just might have been able to extract that advantage. So it is certainly worth investigating. Whether or not it implies some physical evidence of the soul - I would think that one would probably take a while to rise above the level of the basis of a nifty Sci-fi story :)

      Jim
      I was wondering if the new "model/analogy" of the brain will be as a quantum computer?

      If the brain works on a quantum level and it uses entanglement of particles, that could explain how such a small package can be so complex. It might also explain such things as ESP or Precognition (if you believe in such things)

      Comment


      • #4
        That paper's not been through peer review, and lots of aspects of it aren't plausible. For entanglement to be maintained, neither the photons nor the particles they're entangled with can interact with the environment, but the cell is a crowded, busy place, so that's just not possible. Nuclear spins don't actually influence chemical reactions significantly, we know how magneto reception works and it's not that, etc. etc.

        It's just a heap of wishful thinking that's not likely to ever end up published.
        "Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from trolling."

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
          That paper's not been through peer review, and lots of aspects of it aren't plausible. For entanglement to be maintained, neither the photons nor the particles they're entangled with can interact with the environment, but the cell is a crowded, busy place, so that's just not possible. Nuclear spins don't actually influence chemical reactions significantly, we know how magneto reception works and it's not that, etc. etc.

          It's just a heap of wishful thinking that's not likely to ever end up published.
          What about this?

          https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4267444/

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Sparko View Post
            That's a legit, if very niche journal, so that's in its favor.

            The basic claim there is that if you irradiate mice, then put unirradiated mice into the same cage, then somehow the effects of the radiation gets transferred to them. There is, by all appearances, only one instance of this ever reported in the literature (the other references appear to be to informal communications from other scientists); this comment on that earlier report is published in the same journal as the original report.

            I'm extremely skeptical of this. There's no known biological mechanism for activating the radiation response other than radiation-driven cell damage. There's no indication that this response includes any signaling to other cells; it's all handled internally unless the cell dies, in which case there's standard signals of necrosis sent to the surrounding cells. That doesn't mean none of this exists, just that i'd want to see the result replicated before i leapt to the conclusion that they did.

            Even if it does hold up, there are known biological mechanism for transmitting information from one organism to another (pheromones, behavior, etc) that don't involve photons. If the effect is real, i'd focus on something that we know exists as a mechanism before turning to completely undescribed mechanisms.

            The fact that they guy who wrote this is ready to make all those leaps beyond known mechanisms makes me mistrust his scientific judgement.


            Given the sum of that evaluation, it's safe to say i'm extremely skeptical of this idea.
            "Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from trolling."

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
              That's a legit, if very niche journal, so that's in its favor.

              The basic claim there is that if you irradiate mice, then put unirradiated mice into the same cage, then somehow the effects of the radiation gets transferred to them. There is, by all appearances, only one instance of this ever reported in the literature (the other references appear to be to informal communications from other scientists); this comment on that earlier report is published in the same journal as the original report.

              I'm extremely skeptical of this. There's no known biological mechanism for activating the radiation response other than radiation-driven cell damage. There's no indication that this response includes any signaling to other cells; it's all handled internally unless the cell dies, in which case there's standard signals of necrosis sent to the surrounding cells. That doesn't mean none of this exists, just that i'd want to see the result replicated before i leapt to the conclusion that they did.

              Even if it does hold up, there are known biological mechanism for transmitting information from one organism to another (pheromones, behavior, etc) that don't involve photons. If the effect is real, i'd focus on something that we know exists as a mechanism before turning to completely undescribed mechanisms.

              The fact that they guy who wrote this is ready to make all those leaps beyond known mechanisms makes me mistrust his scientific judgement.


              Given the sum of that evaluation, it's safe to say i'm extremely skeptical of this idea.
              I knew you were going to say that!!

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                I knew you were going to say that!!
                Come on, you weren't expecting the necrosis bit, admit it!
                "Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from trolling."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
                  Come on, you weren't expecting the necrosis bit, admit it!
                  That biophoton must have missfired.

                  Comment

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