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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.

http://www.quantumbrain.org/Abstract2004.html 11/24/2009