Microtubules: The Gateway To Consciousness | Stuart Hameroff

Stuart Hameroff explores the intersection between consciousness and quantum mechanics, arguing that consciousness exists on the border of classical and quantum worlds with microtubules within neurons acting as the quantum processing sites that could link to fundamental space-time geometry. This suggests a profound quantum basis for consciousness.

This presentation was recorded at MindFest, held at Florida Atlantic University, CENTER FOR THE FUTURE MIND, spearheaded by Susan Schneider.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
02:08 - Lecture Begins
04:01 - Cells/Biology
06:51 - Alzheimer’s
08:15 - Memories
13:17 - Measuring Megahertz
16:42 - Quantum Properties
20:14 - Superpositions
23:57 - Microtubules
25:30 - Chemistry
34:14 - Testing This Hypothesis
37:02 - The Brain
41:06 - Did Consciousness Create Life?
45:46 - Conclusions
47:42 - Q&A
01:00:45 - Outro

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#consciousness #quantum

[TheoriesofEverything]

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
02:08 - Lecture Begins
04:01 - Cells/Biology
06:51 - Alzheimer’s
08:15 - Memories
13:17 - Measuring Megahertz
16:42 - Quantum Properties
20:14 - Superpositions
23:57 - Microtubules
25:30 - Chemistry
34:14 - Testing This Hypothesis
37:02 - The Brain
41:06 - Did Consciousness Create Life?
45:46 - Conclusions
47:42 - Q&A
01:00:45 - Outro

[_jay]

Man, everyone should be talking about this

[jantuitman]

This was an amazing presentation, it is kind of fascinating to see that a theory with predictive power in the domain of anesthesia together with experimental fields like quantum mechanical optics could be combined to chip away at “the hard problem”. It is clear that we don’t understand everything yet (understatement ) because this still leaves the question: how does the brain precisely orchestrate, what kind of consciousnesscan be combined and what cannot be combined, and even bigger questions such as is the “randomness” of the quantum effects that are being orchestrated by the brain truly random or is it also being orchestrated from “another realm”, in other words is the brain the only entity that involved in creating the Self out of just random micro events or is the brain just a filter/receiver of something else (what religion calls the soul) and are the distributions of all these micro events before the brain integrates them already meaningful even though at a statistical level they might still add up to noise? At least this theory gives some practical insights in how to proceed with further developing or potentially even falsifying it, and that makes it good science in my opinion.

[jk]

Why don't more people know about this? This seems like the most plausible thing yet. Very cool!

[iemandanders]

Dr. H. is doing wonderful work in understanding the mechanism. I wonder how he would account for the "terminal lucidity" experienced by some Alzheimer's patients near death. Thanks for this.

[brandonb]

Dr. H’s Understanding is AMAZING! He also has a 5 or 8 part presentation on New Thinking Allowed that is Awesome!!! Thanks for loading this one Curt and for the knowledge Dr. H.
Anyone triggered by this is just exposing their NAKED SHADOW…we know NOTHING!🤙🏼✌🏼😊

[River-Kosmos]

That guy with the beard in the Q&A needs to chill out.

[charlesblithfield]

D Hoffman says a human’s perception of reality only needs to go as far as is necessary to optimize fitness functions. This seems to relate to the ideas presented in this talk in that qualia that give pleasure, at any level of organism complexity, would be selected for if these qualia favor fitness optimization. Maybe this is why we have neurons in our gut.

[erwinschrodinger]

This is a gold mine. What a presentation.

[Hermetic]

The piece I don’t understand about this theory is what, specifically, they are using to differentiate “creation” vs. “reception of” consciousness. I don’t see why this theory of microtubules couldn’t just be the mechanism of receiving consciousness vs. creating consciousness (which I think is hogwash). Why they think it is being created is simply not made clear. Just saying “it emerges from higher order network effects” is so vague as to be obtuse. There are exactly zero examples in nature of something material creating something non-material (not measurable). Yet we are supposed to believe this is happening here. If this is the case, they should be able to demonstrate the creation of consciousness. Awareness of “self” involves all kinds of qualia that are immaterial as clearly explained by Donald Hoffman.

[williamjmccartan]

Thank you very much for sharing your time and work Curt, that was a pretty interesting presentation by Professor Hameroff, have a great day, peace

[erawanpencil]

If anyone here has any access to Dr. Hammeroff, I think he should present more slow-paced, detailed content and especially answer questions (from well-meaning people, not sure who that aggressive ahkcyually neckbeard was lol)... there's more than enough fast-paced PowerPoints from Stuart like this online and I think they really give the wrong impression. The awesomeness of OrchOR really seems comes out when he and Roger answer questions about it.

[themagicbuzz]

So glad for this, he has been a fav for decades….

[GamersGettingPlayed]

please do not be disrespectful. It is not Penrose. It is, Sir Roger Penrose. when you win a Nobel prize, then you can call him Roger.

[albertperks]

That was a great presentation. Would be interesting to understand if Prof.Hameroff did continue the conversation with the gentleman who mentioned colchicine? Whilst clearly the gentleman was a little combative in style I think it was interesting point and clearly Prof. Hameroff had something to say.

[AdvaiticOneness]

It good to see that he mentioned about the similarities between indian philosophy and science at 45:26. The Hindu scriptures delve deeply into the nature of reality and consciousness, a topic that science is gradually exploring. Many quantum physicists, including Erwin Schrödinger, found inspiration in the teachings of the Upanishads. Schrödinger elaborated on this connection in his book "What is Life?"

[RSEFX]

I have to assume there is a good reason why smart people would leave all the overhead lights on during a slide-projection lecture rather than shutting them off to make the images a lot easier to see. I'm just not sure I can figure out what that smart reason could be.
Good, typical high energy Hameroff ttalk!
Has he ever addressed Hoffman's questioning challenge? I can't imagine that SH wouldn't ignore it for very long.
Thank for posting this Curt (Kurt?)

[gazagne]

Kratos on consciousness 🥳
Love the man and his work, that's stellar

[samuelx]

first time i've ever had to put playback speed slower. interesting lecture

[mrtommy]

A new paper published in the journal eNeuro show anesthesia binding to microtubules.
That aligns perfectly with this incredible theory.

I’m shocked this isn’t headline news.