Name: Huping Hu & Maoxin Wu

Affiliation: , Biophysics Consulting Group

Email: drhu@quantumbrain.org

Abstract Title: Concerning Spin as Mind-Pixel and Primordial Self-Referential Process Driving Consciousness

Abstract: We have recently theorized that spin is the mind-pixel and primordial self-referential process driving consciousness. Applying these ideas to the particular structures and dynamics of the brain, we have developed a qualitative model of quantum consciousness. Here, we report some alternatives to our original model and discuss the ontology of the self-referential spin process and the collapse of associated spin state. The first alternative is to use unpaired electronic spins instead of unpaired nuclear spins as the mind-pixels. The key question then is how will unpaired electronic spins achieve long-lived (~ms) quantum coherence in the “warm and wet” brain. One possibility is that the unpaired electronic spins caged inside a network of large molecules are able to form long-lived macroscopic quantum coherence through tunneling since they are insulated to certain extent from the noisy brain environment. The second is to use the unpaired nuclear spin ensembles in membrane proteins and even microtubules as the mind-pixels instead of smaller molecules such as phospholipids and cholesterols. Presumably, these nuclear spins are more insulated from the brain noise thus more readily to form long-lived macroscopic quantum coherence through intra- and inter-molecular spin-spin interactions than those carried by smaller molecules. The key question is how do they communicate with the classical neural networks of the brain. It is possible that they directly communicate with said networks through the conformational changes of these large molecules and it is also plausible that they communicate with said networks through the weak magnetic fields produced by said networks. The third alternative is to drop oxygen from the original model if one is to assume that the unpaired electronic spins of oxygen would not play a role in consciousness. In this scenario, both the key question and its answer are quite similar to those in the second alternative. Thus, in principle, even without the unpaired electronic spins of oxygen as pixel-activating beam through their strong magnetic dipoles, it is still possible for the nuclear spin ensembles in the neural membranes to be activated through the conformational changes of the molecules carrying these nuclear spins and the weak magnetic fields produced by classical neural activities.

On ontology, we will first discuss from a reductionist perspective the ontological connections of spin, mind and the imaginary number i. Then, we will outline the semantics of the operations based on i and connect them to the self-referential spin process and the collapse of associated spin state.