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Computation Through Neuronal Oscillations

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The Message of Quantum Science

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics ((LNP,volume 899))

Abstract

Some of us believe that natural sciences are governed by simple and predictive general principles. This hope has not yet been fulfilled in physics for unifying gravitation and quantum mechanics. Epigenetics has shaken the monopoly of the genetic code to determine inheritance (Alberts et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell. Garland, New York, 2008). It is therefore not surprising that quantum mechanics does not explain consciousness or more generally the coherence of the brain in perception, action and cognition. In an other context, others (Tegmark, Phys Rev E 61:4194–4206, 2000) and we (Koch and Hepp, Nature 440:611–612, 2006; Koch and Hepp, Visions of Discovery: New Light on Physics, Cosmology, and Consciousness. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011) have strongly argued against the absurdity of such a claim, because consciousness is a higher brain function and not a molecular binding mechanism. Decoherence in the warm and wet brain is by many orders of magnitude too strong. Moreover, there are no efficient algorithms for neural quantum computations. However, the controversy over classical and quantum consciousness will probably never be resolved (see e.g. Hepp, J Math Phys 53:095222, 2012; Hameroff and Penrose, Phys Life Rev 11:39–78, 2013).

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to my colleagues in the Physics Department of the ETHZ, Jürg Fröhlich, Hans-Ruedi Ott and Thomas Schulthess, for listening to my concerns about the BBP. I have learnt most about neuroscience from the late neurologist Volker Henn and from collaborations in the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zürich. Constructive remarks by Pascal Fries and Kevan Martin have been very helpful, but all misrepresentations are mine.

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    K. Hepp

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  1. Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Philippe Blanchard

  2. Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Jürg Fröhlich

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Hepp, K. (2015). Computation Through Neuronal Oscillations. In: Blanchard, P., Fröhlich, J. (eds) The Message of Quantum Science. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 899. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46422-9_10

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