For many years, speculations on the topic of quantum processes in the work of the brain remained unproven. A new study brings a significant amount of confidence that human thoughts are not classical, but quantum in nature. This explains, for example, the superiority of the mind over the computer in solving a wide range of problems and promises a new path to the creation of quantum computers.
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Detect quantum phenomena in the human brain helped theory building quantum gravity. Scientists have long been trying to “make friends” of quantum mechanics and general relativity in order to create a “theory of everything”. For this, in particular, it is necessary to describe the gravitational interaction from the standpoint of quantum mechanics. One approach says that an unknown system can be considered quantum if it serves as an intermediary between two known quantum systems. In other words, the “quantity” of an unknown system is determined indirectly.
In the same way, our consciousness – the thought processes and activities of the brain – can be indirectly defined as quantum. To do this, scientists from Trinity College Dublin conducted a series of experiments on entangling the spins of protons in the “brain fluid” – a liquid medium formed in the brain during its life.
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) can determine the spins of protons in the brain fluid. A modified MRI machine is capable of detecting entangled protons. A search for entangled spins yielded MRI signals that resembled heart muscle (heartbeat) control signals on an electroencephalogram (EEG). The caveat is that MRI usually does not pick up these signals. Scientists believe that EEG data on MRI were displayed due to the detection of entangled spins, and brain activity became an intermediary in entanglement.
“If entanglement is the only possible explanation, then this means that brain processes must have interacted with nuclear spins, mediating entanglement between them. As a result, we can conclude that these brain functions must be quantum,” the authors conclude. articles.
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