Consciousness pre-dates life | Professor Stuart Hameroff, Roger Penrose's long-time collaborator

Stuart Hameroff puts forward a radical theory of consciousness.

Could consciousness have emerged from quantum states in neural microtubules?

Many scientists, operating with a materialist worldview, argue that consciousness emerges out of inanimate molecules. In contrast, Roger Penrose's longtime collaborator, Stuart Hameroff, puts forward the controversial case that consciousness precedes life and that we have evidence for this from a recent NASA experiment.

#consciousness #quantumphysics #quantum #quantummechanics #quantumconsciousness #penrose

Stuart Hameroff is an American anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona known for his studies of consciousness and his controversial claim, alongside Sir Roger Penrose, that consciousness originates from quantum states in neural microtubules.

[rohitrathi]

This is an amazing lecture where he is laying out everything unselfishly. No secrets and zero fuss.

[nielsenrobert]

The logic is exhilaratingly freeing. The effects of anesthesia prove the physical connection to consciousness through the mechanisms Stuart so exquisitely presented here.

[terrycallow]

I love listening to Professor Hameroff haven't a clue what he's on about but maybe one day I will.

[YogiMcCaw]

So two good impressions right off the bat: 1. he's wearing a t-shirt with NW Native Art on it, and 2. the lecture is happening in a yurt.
As a nearly 40-year resident in the PNW who lived for years in a yurt, those things indicated to me that there is indeed some consciousness here LOL.
Joking aside (is joking a sign of higher consciousness?), this is indeed fascinating. As a long practitioner of many meditative techniques and an armchair science enthusiast (my BA is in anthropology, though I am not in that profession), I like the scientific approach to the question of consciousness. Of course, many ancient sages have asserted that consciousness is indeed a primary and pervasive aspect of the Existence. Now, in modern times, with advanced sciences we can actually start to explore the question: "OK, the assertion may be right (or maybe not). If you think it's a true statement, then how does it work?"
I like that a genius poly math and physicist - Penrose - has teamed up with a medical scientist (Hameroff) to hack away at this problem.
Your average new age stoner maybe can experience it when he's out there on some carefully curated psilocybin (Yeah, been there, done that), but for me nowadays, a sober scientific explanation is much more satisfying.

[ramspace]

The poor prof was given 13 minutes to summarise a 2, 000 pages academic book.

[JñānaKhaṇḍa]

Better watch Hameroff anywhere else on youtube, where you are not forced to subscribe in order to finish watching.

[greatestoneeva]

This is absolutely excellent. Straight shooter no BS no ego. We need more of this guy.

[bretnetherton]

Awareness is known by awareness alone.

[CONNELL]

Lots of super-interesting topics touched on, but I'm still convinced that we've barely moved beyond being able to distinguish Wow from Woo-Woo

[tadmarshall]

I really enjoyed this! I need to schedule some time to watch the full version.
I've heard Roger Penrose speak (in person, not video) and he is a hell of a lot smarter than I am.
Folks complaining that the firehouse of new ideas is hard to understand and therefore wrong are maybe not the target audience.

[oligographer]

There are many genetic disorders that directly impact microtubule If microtubules are the fundamental units through these mechanisms, one would expect a relationship between the genes' effects on these quantum behaviors, and the severity of symptoms correlating to "consciousness."

Identifying mutations that disrupt quantum effects but don't disrupt large-scale microtubule structure, and cause more profound symptoms, might be evidence for the importance of these mechanisms. This has the added benefit of providing further research into rare neurogenetic disorders.

[PaulJonesy]

All very interesting but it’s still a mechanistic description for physical correlates of consciousness, it’s like describing a work of art in terms of the attributes of all the atoms in it - it’s not wrong but it tells you nothing about art.

[Idonthaveagoodname]

I think consciousness is life, just expressed through a hyper focused lens and trying to understand itself through relation of "other" things it can perceive. Life seems to really reflect what's going on inside. It's just another way of understanding itself through multifaceted ways at once, because pure consciousness is capable of everything at once. And everything is duality. Something is nothing and nothing is something. It's a concept, but it's the dark to the light of creation, and just a different form of expression. But then again, I could be crazy. 😅😅

[lodileipoldt]

Consciousness was first, not came first❤ imho❤

[quantummotion]

A marker of an idea I want to place here....if it turns out that microtubules are responsible for consciousness via a form of quantum computation, then evolution itself could be computed. Why do I say that? Because microtubules also form the cytoskeleton of cells and form the spindle that allows cells to divide. If microtubules are computational structures, and we see single celled organisms with the ability to hunt, learn, seek out mates, then during cell division, mutation may be done on purpose, based on the experience of the cell, and the microtubules induce mutation as a best guess of a change that should occur to meet changing conditions. This best guess approach may explain the "radiations" of different species that occur relatively rapidly after mass extinctions - the spindles are iterating rapidly changes and mutations during cell division in an rapid effort to improve survival.

[AThagoras]

What a mind-blowing video! When I saw the title, I thought this guy must have taken too much LSD in the '60s, but after watching it, maybe I could be convinced.

[NikkiTrudelle]

Published 42 mins ago when I started watching. 42, life the universe and everything. Consciousness

[drSamovar]

many "professionals" confusing it with awareness and/or perception, the "whole thing" is it is the abyss, asleep it dreams

[Paul-vvj]

There is nothing but consciousness. All matter, all space, and all dimensions are conscious. Consciousness is what everything is made of. We stop changing when we become one with everything, meaning we are everything that is, when we cannot change anymore and we are at the end of our journey.

[jerrymuns]

No matter what an individual professes an immediate tidal wave of agreeable and disagreeable comments ensue proving only one thing, that nobody really knows, and in most cases the majority is usually wrong.