Is the Brain A Quantum Computer? New Insights Say It Might Be

The Brain As A Clock Or A Computer?

Consciousness, higher levels of thought, and how the brain works are still a mystery today. Over history, the functioning of the human mind has been seen through various analogies, usually using the most advanced technology of the time.

Ancient Greeks saw it as a water clock. Later thinkers believed it was powered by the movement of body fluids, then a mechanical clock, then an electric circuit. Today, we see it as a very powerful computer powered by electric signals, with each neuron a sort of biological transistor.

In practice, none of these explanations, including the “biological computer,” fully account for how the brain works.

For example, the computation capacity of the brain works on only 12-25 watts of electrical power, barely enough to power an LED light. In contrast, just one AI chip from Nvidia consumes 250-700W for much less “thinking” capacity.

It is also unclear if “more computing power” is actually the answer to generating complex thoughts and abstract reasoning to go beyond just guessing like LLMs (Large Language Models) are currently doing.

This is why other theories have been proposed, notably that quantum effects are responsible for the emergence of consciousness.

Is the Brain Quantum?

Penrose’s Support

There is a theory dubbed “quantum consciousness,” which stipulates that brain functions and consciousness are derived from quantum effects like the collapse of the quantum wavefunction.

This is a strange part of quantum physics, where particles go from a state of simultaneous properties to a more “normal” state where they have one defined characteristic. It has notably been popularized by the concept of Schrödinger’s cat.

Source: Wikipedia

The quantum consciousness theory has been championed by Sir Roger Penrose, a famous physicist who won the Nobel Prize In Physics in 2020, for his work in astrophysics and the mathematical modeling of black holes.

Source: Nobel Prize

While he may be out of his immediate field of expertise, Penrose’s reputation as a world-class genius gave some attention to this idea.

Microtubules Calculations

Penrose’s theory centers on structures in neurons called microtubules, which form the “skeleton” of the cells. These structures are essential in performing computations that ultimately result in consciousness. This idea was first published in 1996.

Source: Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona

This theory would also explain how general anaesthetic works, a question still open despite almost a century of use. It would work by impairing the quantum effect in the tubulin, blocking consciousness but not unconscious brain activity.

You can also watch Sir Penrose explain his theory himself in this 42-minute video:

Criticisms

The idea of quantum computing happening in the brain has been immediately criticized by a large part of the scientific community. The main problem is that quantum entanglement and collapse of the quantum wavefunction can only be observed in very special environments, generally with pure elements, vacuum, and/or very low temperature, often barely a few degrees above absolute zero.

These are also the type of conditions currently required for quantum computers, as we described in our article on the topic: “The Current State of Quantum Computing”.

An organic brain would be too warm and too complex of a medium to conduct any quantum calculation.

A String Of Quantum Discoveries In The Brain

The idea that no quantum phenomenon could take place in the messy context of organic matter is being increasingly challenged.

We already suspect that the magnetic sense of birds, allowing them to locate the north and migrate, is linked to such a quantum effect.

When these radicals eventually react, the outcome will depend on the strength and orientation of the magnetic field. The thinking is that the bird is sensitive to this in a way that allows it to tell north from south. The process is highly quantum as the radical pair electrons are entangled, which means that they act as a single quantum object, even though they are some distance apart.

Musser, ”Radical consciousness theory?”

 Recent Measurements

In 2022, an experiment seems to have demonstrated that quantic signals in the brain correlate with “heartbeat-evoked potentials” (HEPs). This could demonstrate that quantum entanglement is possible in a human body.

(Quantum entanglement is when 2 particles are paired together, and can “communicate” with each other, even without a signal and quicker than the speed of light).

More recently, in April 2024, a new insight into the brain demonstrated that at least some quantum effect can exist in neurons, where they were previously thought impossible.

More precisely, it is a phenomenon called superradiance. In a publication titled “Ultraviolet Superradiance from Mega-Networks of Tryptophan in Biological Architectures“, they demonstrate that large structures built out of the amino acid tryptophan, like neurons tubulin, can display superradiance.

Source: ACS Publication

Such display of stable quantum effects from micron-scale structures is unprecedented, especially for materials as complex and “noisy” as biological molecules in living cells.

Going maybe even further, some scientists are proposing that memories in organic brains are created through a holographic system using superradiance.

So Is The Brain A Quantum Supercomputer?

It is way too early to say for certain. However, with the discovery of superradiance in tubulin, the main argument that quantum effects cannot work in neurons’ substructures is severely weakened.

There is still quite a gap from this observation to demonstrating that consciousnesses is the result of “gravity-induced collapse of the quantum wavefunction”, per Penrose’s theory. Nevertheless, the latest discovery implies that neurons could transmit information through optical signals, like optic fibers.

This would replace the more commonly understood idea that neuronal signaling involves ions moving across membranes from one end of the neuron to the other.

Superradiance is an extremely quick phenomenon that happens in the range of picoseconds (a billionth of a millisecond). This would make any signal transmitted through this effect hundreds of millions of times faster than chemical processes alone would allow.

Applications

Neurodegenerative Diseases

While fascinating, it might not be obvious what is the direct application of such discovery.

One could be helping to understand and prevent neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s has been associated with high degrees of oxidative stress—when the body carries a large number of free radicals, which can emit damaging, high-energy UV light particles.

Tryptophan can absorb this ultraviolet light and re-emit it at a lower, safer energy. And, as this study found, very large tryptophan networks can do this even more efficiently and robustly because of their powerful quantum effects.