Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 10, 2026
05:39
Scalable Quantum Integrated Circuits on Superconducting Two-Dimensional Electron Gas Platform
Published on: August 2, 2019
The 'hard problem' and the quantum physicists. Part 2: Modern times
1Vision Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. c.u.m.smith@aston.ac.uk
Brain and Cognition
|October 26, 2007
Summary
Quantum physics approaches to consciousness, including neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), lack neurobiological plausibility. A radical paradigm shift may be needed to address the hard problem of consciousness.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Quantum Physics
- Philosophy of Mind
Background:
- The "hard problem" of consciousness remains a significant challenge in understanding the mind-brain relationship.
- Contemporary research explores neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) but struggles to bridge the gap between physical processes and subjective experience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically review quantum physics-based theories attempting to explain the "hard problem" of consciousness.
- To assess the neurobiological plausibility of prominent quantum approaches to consciousness.
Main Methods:
- Review and analysis of the work of four key quantum physicists: Eccles/Beck, Stapp, Hameroff/Penrose, and Bohm.
- Examination of proposed quantum effects within the brain's microstructure.
- Comparison of theoretical models with current neurobiological understanding.
Main Results:
- Most quantum theories (Eccles/Beck, Stapp, Hameroff/Penrose) lack neurobiological plausibility.
- These theories, while elegant, are contradicted by empirical neurobiological facts.
- David Bohm's approach diverges, questioning the adequacy of the current scientific paradigm.
Conclusions:
- Current quantum theories fail to provide a neurobiologically plausible explanation for consciousness.
- David Bohm suggests a paradigm shift towards 'pan-experientialism' or 'dual-aspect monism'.
- The 'hard problem' may require a fundamental reevaluation of scientific frameworks beyond classical natural science.
Related Concept Videos
02:45The Quantum-Mechanical Model of an Atom
Shortly after de Broglie published his ideas that the electron in a hydrogen atom could be better thought of as being a circular standing wave instead of a particle moving in quantized circular orbits, Erwin Schrödinger extended de Broglie’s work by deriving what is now known as the Schrödinger equation. When Schrödinger applied his equation to hydrogen-like atoms, he was able to reproduce Bohr’s expression for the energy and, thus, the Rydberg formula governing hydrogen spectra. Schrödinger...
04:08The Uncertainty Principle
Werner Heisenberg considered the limits of how accurately one can measure properties of an electron or other microscopic particles. He determined that there is a fundamental limit to how accurately one can measure both a particle’s position and its momentum simultaneously. The more accurate the measurement of the momentum of a particle is known, the less accurate the position at that time is known and vice versa. This is what is now called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. He mathematically...
02:39Emission Spectra
When solids, liquids, or condensed gases are heated sufficiently, they radiate some of the excess energy as light. Photons produced in this manner have a range of energies, and thereby produce a continuous spectrum in which an unbroken series of wavelengths is present.
02:12The Wave Nature of Light
The nature of light has been a subject of inquiry since antiquity. In the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton performed experiments with lenses and prisms and was able to demonstrate that white light consists of the individual colors of the rainbow combined together. Newton explained his optics findings in terms of a "corpuscular" view of light, in which light was composed of streams of extremely tiny particles traveling at high speeds according to Newton's laws of motion.
02:32The de Broglie Wavelength
In the macroscopic world, objects that are large enough to be seen by the naked eye follow the rules of classical physics. A billiard ball moving on a table will behave like a particle; it will continue traveling in a straight line unless it collides with another ball, or it is acted on by some other force, such as friction. The ball has a well-defined position and velocity or well-defined momentum, p = mv, which is defined by mass m and velocity v at any given moment. This is the typical...
01:07Equation of State
The equation of state is an equation that relates physical quantities, such as pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of moles, of a thermodynamics system with each other. The equation relating physical quantities with each other can be a simple mathematical expression or too complicated to express in mathematical form. In either case, a relationship between physical quantities exists. If the equation of state cannot be expressed in a mathematical form, then experimental data and...