Physics in mind: a quantum view of the brain

353 Pages·2013·3.938 MB·English

by  Loewenstein, Werner R

Science
$28.99 US / $32.00 CAN
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No one can escape a sense of awe when reflecting
in Mind
on the workings of the mind: we see, we hear, we
“The more we think about it, the more challenging it becomes to answer the apparently simple question:
feel, we are aware of the world around us. But what
how do we think? Here, eminent scientist Werner Loewenstein has assembled recent insights from biology
is the mind? What do we mean when we say we are “aware”
and physics to give us his richly textured new view of this great challenge.” —Jared diamond,
of something? What is this peculiar state in our heads, at once
Professor of Geography, UCLA, and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel
utterly familiar and bewilderingly mysterious, that we call
awareness or consciousness?
In Physics in Mind, eminent biophysicist Werner R.
i P Loewenstein argues that to answer these questions, we must first
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Woo “Werner Loewenstein’s Physics in Mind is a passionate exploration of how biological systems process M y
of the mind. And so begins an exhilarating journey along the
Lynn information. Starting from how molecules transform information and energy at the most microscopic in sic sensory data stream of the brain, which shows how our most 6S-:1 1/4 3 x/1 96-”1/5”
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complex organ processes the vast amounts of information

of the mechanisms of sight and smell, of senses and neural signals, culminating with the phenomenon BASIC
Werner R. Loewenstein Quantum coming in through our senses to create a coherent, meaningful
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of consciousness itself. Erudite, witty, and highly accessible, Physics in Mind proves once and for all
picture of the world. Bringing information theory to bear on
View of the
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was professor of physiology and biophysics at Columbia that the unquantized life is not worth living.” —Seth LLoyd, Professor of Quantum-Mechanical
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Werner R. deal with staggering amounts of information, as in the case of FINISH:
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the information streaming through our eyes.
Loewenstein Combining cutting-edge research in neuroscience and
$28.99 US / $32.00 CAN physics, Loewenstein presents an ambitious hypothesis about
ISBN 978-0-465-02984-6 the parallel processing of sensory information that is the
52899
Jacket design by Thomas Beck Stvan
A Member of the Perseus Books Group heart, hub, and pivot of the cognitive brain. Wide-ranging and
www.basicbooks.com
brimming with insight, Physics in Mind breaks new ground in
01/13
9 780465 029846 our understanding of how the mind works.
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Physics in Mind
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Physics
in Mind
A Quantum View of the Brain
Werner R. Loewenstein
New York
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
9780465029846-text_Layout 1 11/9/12 9:51 AM Page iv
Copyright © 2013 by Werner R. Loewenstein
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information,
address Basic Books, 250 West 57th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10107.
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4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].
Designed by Trish Wilkinson
Set in 11.5 point Minion Pro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Loewenstein, Werner R.
Physics in mind : a quantum view of the brain / Werner R. Loewenstein.
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-465-02984-6 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-465-03397-3 (e-book)
1. Neurophysiology. 2. Neural networks (Neurobiology) 3. Brain. I. Title.
QP355.2.L64 2013
612.8—dc23 2012028268
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To my children, Claudia, Patricia, Harriet, and Stewart
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Contents
Preface xiii
A Thumbnail Sketch of Our Journey xvii
1
Our Sense of Time: Time’s Arrow 1
Our Awareness of Time 1
The Stream of Consciousness 2
Inner Time versus Physics Time 4
The Way the Cookie Crumbles 6
How to Predict the Future from the Past 8
Why the Cookie Crumbles 11
Can Time Go Backward? 12
Time and Our Perception of Reality 13
2
Information Arrows 15
Retrieving the Past 15
The Arrows of Time and Information 19
The Products of Information Arrows: An Overview 21
Life’s Arrow 22
The Strange Circles at Coordinates 0,0,0 25
Molecular Demons 26
Wresting Information from Entropy:
The Quintessence of Cognition 28
Who Shoulders Life’s Arrow? 32
3
The Second Coming 35
The Demons for Fast Information Transmission 36
The Sensory Demons 41
vii
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viii Contents
A Generalized Sensory Scheme 42
The Demon Tandem 44
How the Demon Tandems Censor Incoming Information 46
4
The Sensors 49
The Sensory Transducer Unit 49
A Lesson in Economics from a Master 51
The Silent Partner 53
How Electrical Sensory Signals Are Generated 54
5
Quantum Sensing 57
The Quantum World 58
Our Windows to the Quantum World 61
Coherent Quantum Information Transmission 64
The Advantages of Being Stable 66
Why We See the Rainbow 67
The Demons Behind Our Pictures in the Mind:
A Darwinistic Physics View 70
Why White Is White 72
The Quantum View 75
Again, Why White Is White 76
Lady Evolution’s Quantum Game Plan 77
Quantum Particles That Don’t Cut the Mustard 78
6
Quantum into Molecular Information 81
Boosting the Quantum 81
A Consummate Sleight of Hand 83
The Ubiquitous Membrane Demon 86
7
Molecular Sensing 87
A Direct Line from Nose to Cortex 87
A Thousand Information Channels of Smell 89
Mapping, Coding, and Synonymity 90
Molecular Sensory Synonymity 92
Why Sensory Synonymity 95
Quantum Synonymity 97
Harmless Double Entendres 98
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Contents ix
8
Electronic Transmission of Biological Information 99
Evolution’s Favorite Leptons 99
Electronic Information Transmission:
A Development Stumped 101
Two Old Batteries 103
9
The Random Generators of Biomolecular Complexity 107
Genuine Transmogrification 107
A Quantum Random Generator of Molecular Form 109
The Heuristics of Transmogrification 113
The Random Generator and Our Genetic Heritage 114
An Algorithm Is No Substitute for a Demon 116
The Second Generator of Biomolecular Form 118
Complexity as a Windfall 122
Ikats 122
10
The Ascent of the Digital Demons 125
Quantum Electron Tunneling 125
The Electronic Cul-de-Sac 127
The Rise of the Digital Demons 127
Do Plants Have Digital Demons, Too? 128
11
The Second Information Arrow and
Its Astonishing Dénouement: Consciousness 131
The Structure of Time 132
The Evolutionary Niche in the Structure of Time:
A Hypothesis 133
Forecognition 134
12
How to Represent the World 137
The Universal Turing Machine 137
Rendering the World by Computer 140
The Neuronal Virtual-Reality Generator 142
Our Biased World Picture 143
Computing by Neurons 145
Correcting Our World Picture 148
Flying the Coop of Our Senses 149