81
DOI: 10.1201/9780429440939-8
7
From Quantum Biology
Towards Quantum
Consciousness
Jack Tuszyn ’ ski
University of Alberta
Politecnico di Torino
INTRODUCTION
Today, perhaps the most dynamically expanding branches of science are genetics and molecular and
cellular biology, which are amassing impressive reams of data well ahead of scientists’ capacity to
fully analyse it all. Computational biology is emerging gradually as a response to the challenge of
big data analytics. Quantum biology, on the other hand, is positioning itself to explain not so much
the huge amounts of data but, like physics a century ago, a limited number of important, yet poorly
understood phenomena such as photosynthesis, bioenergetics, vision, olfaction and bird navigation.
Yet, the grandest challenge of all is to explain how the human brain works and, in particular, how
conscious behaviour emerges from the structure and function of the human brain and its cellular and
sub-cellular components. In this chapter, I revisit some historical issues in the development of quantum physics and then look at the emergence of quantum biology and finally quantum consciousness,
aiming to provide new insights into these topics from both a physical and a historical perspective.
The birth of modern physics can be traced back to the reluctant introduction of what turned out
to be a fundamental constant of nature, the so-called Planck constant, i.e. h = 6.6 × 10 −34 Js. Its introduction in an energy quantisation formula was the only solution to the problem of the heat emission
spectra experimentally determined for physical objects at various temperatures. Max Planck postulated that these spectra originate from a discrete nature of energy levels in physical systems that can
be quantised by the general relation:
E
n
hf
n
1/2
(
)
= +
( 7.1)
where n enumerates the energy levels and f is the characteristic frequency of internal oscillations.
This led to a revolutionary transformation of physical principles departing from the mechanistic
laws of Newtonian physics to provide wave function descriptions of quantum physics that were
developed in the decades that followed. In quantum physics, objects possess both a wave aspect and
a particle aspect, a view of the physical world known as the principle of wave–particle duality, or
CONTENTS
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 81
From Quantum Chemistry to Quantum Biology ............................................................................. 82
Towards Quantum Consciousness ....................................................................................................84
Future Outlook ................................................................................................................................. 86
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 87
References ........................................................................................................................................ 87
DOI: 10.1201/9780429440939-8
7
From Quantum Biology
Towards Quantum
Consciousness
Jack Tuszyn ’ ski
University of Alberta
Politecnico di Torino
INTRODUCTION
Today, perhaps the most dynamically expanding branches of science are genetics and molecular and
cellular biology, which are amassing impressive reams of data well ahead of scientists’ capacity to
fully analyse it all. Computational biology is emerging gradually as a response to the challenge of
big data analytics. Quantum biology, on the other hand, is positioning itself to explain not so much
the huge amounts of data but, like physics a century ago, a limited number of important, yet poorly
understood phenomena such as photosynthesis, bioenergetics, vision, olfaction and bird navigation.
Yet, the grandest challenge of all is to explain how the human brain works and, in particular, how
conscious behaviour emerges from the structure and function of the human brain and its cellular and
sub-cellular components. In this chapter, I revisit some historical issues in the development of quantum physics and then look at the emergence of quantum biology and finally quantum consciousness,
aiming to provide new insights into these topics from both a physical and a historical perspective.
The birth of modern physics can be traced back to the reluctant introduction of what turned out
to be a fundamental constant of nature, the so-called Planck constant, i.e. h = 6.6 × 10 −34 Js. Its introduction in an energy quantisation formula was the only solution to the problem of the heat emission
spectra experimentally determined for physical objects at various temperatures. Max Planck postulated that these spectra originate from a discrete nature of energy levels in physical systems that can
be quantised by the general relation:
E
n
hf
n
1/2
(
)
= +
( 7.1)
where n enumerates the energy levels and f is the characteristic frequency of internal oscillations.
This led to a revolutionary transformation of physical principles departing from the mechanistic
laws of Newtonian physics to provide wave function descriptions of quantum physics that were
developed in the decades that followed. In quantum physics, objects possess both a wave aspect and
a particle aspect, a view of the physical world known as the principle of wave–particle duality, or
CONTENTS
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 81
From Quantum Chemistry to Quantum Biology ............................................................................. 82
Towards Quantum Consciousness ....................................................................................................84
Future Outlook ................................................................................................................................. 86
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 87
References ........................................................................................................................................ 87