Unraveling the Mysteries of Quantum Consciousness and AI with Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose

This summer I have been exploring a scientific theory of consciousness first put forth by Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose and Dr. Stuart Hameroff in the 1990s called quantum consciousness. This unorthodox, yet-scientific theory proposes that consciousness arises out of highly coordinated quantum processes occurring in the cells of the brain. This theory combines quantum mechanics, relativity, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, molecular biology, and philosophy.

It’s different than prevailing theories of consciousness, which suggest that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the firing of synapses in the neurons of the brain. Instead, Penrose’s theory suggests that subatomic particles collapse of their own accord and thereby create what Penrose calls proto-consciousness. It is an elegant way to bridge the two prevailing theories of consciousness: materialist and idealist.

This theory also has major implications for artificial intelligence because it means that machine learning and neural networks may never achieve true intelligence, strong AI, superintelligence, or anything resembling artificial consciousness.

In the video, I also explore the idea of computability, computers as universal metaphor, and the possibility that quantum computers might be a more promising avenue for research into artificial general intelligence.

This video was inspired by my work in the philosophy, cosmology and consciousness program at @IntegralEducation under Kerri Welch, for a course called The Epic of the Universe. Thank you Kerri for providing such rich pointers for further study!

00:00 - Start
00:36 - AI
01:43 - Theories of Consciousness
01:56 - Materialism
03:18 - AI Approaches To Consciousness
04:25 - Idealism
05:30 - Quantum Consciousness
05:57 - Quantum Weirdness
08:29 - The Brain
10:19 - Life Evolves to Create Consciousness
11:39 - Experiences of Pleasure
12:19 - Computability
14:57 - Abductive Reasoning
15:38 - Quantum Computers Redux
16:13 - Open Questions
16:42 - Conclusion
17:23 - Life is evolving to create the conditions for higher consciousness
17:50 - Quantum Physics as Stop-Gap
18:25 - Metaphor

#consciousness #AI #philosophy

[HenrikYdeArt]

Great video. The Hindu and yogic idea that everything is consciousness, is contradicted by its own idioms in multiple texts, By the statement that all consciousness is not equal, and further by the statements that deities and Yogis are beyond matter, and eventually, Brahman, the highest Deity, is beyond even consciousness itself.
I would add that True consciousness is A) quality and B) subjective, which is what gives it self-awareness and separation from particles matter etc. In the context of these observations we could say that the materialist view of consciousness is an AI and that indeed yogically unawake human consciousness, also is a kind of AI.
Materialism puts Subjectivity in a little aesthetic and emotional box, whereas real subjectivity far supersedes aesthetics and emotion and moves into both utilitarian material pursuits as well as transcendence and abstractions from mathematics to ethics.
In summary I posit that consciousness is outside of the brain and the body and outside of the material universe, and this theory is supported by Vedic texts that describe sahasrara chakra as precisely this transcendent consciousness & intelligence that connects into the human brain. In spiritual terms we could say that Sahashrara chakra is the bridge for the soul to enter and exit and entangle with the body. So consequently of this view which is not Pam psychic but transcendentalist of another order, the answer to the AI question is no: AI will never achieve real genuine authentic subjective quality awareness and consciousness. That however, will not prevent AI from working potentially brutally on humanity, just as brutal primitive calculating AI type humans and their fraternal networks and organizations do.
It will take awakened Yogis ethical engagement to stop The current March toward world domination by materialist structuralists. AI development and quantum computing is highly financed by military and supranational corporations who couldn’t care less about poetry and pleasure and who have in the last hundred years killed over 100 million people and the two world wars and subsequent interventions that Neil colonialist adventurous. I will end my response to your video suggesting that all the positive aspects of a solution you mention must engage in stopping all current wars and social any quality. In other words ethical high intelligence cannot exist and neglect what corporations and states are doing, Bust my butt must engage and rejecting all evil and demanding the end to war the end to income gap the end to homelessness etc. etc
Thanks a lot for your very engaged and interesting video.