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The role of quantum mechanics in cognition-based evolution
1Evolution 2.0, 805 Lake Street #295, Oak Park, IL, 60301, USA.
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology
|May 4, 2023
Summary
Cognition generates biological code, which directs chemical reactions, challenging traditional biological models. This paper links biological agency to quantum mechanics (QM) and the observer effect, proposing a new framework for understanding life.
Area of Science:
- Biology
- Quantum Mechanics
- Information Theory
Background:
- The traditional view posits chemical reactions produce biological code, leading to cognition.
- This paper challenges this by proposing cognition generates code, analogous to information-based systems.
- Biological systems lack empirical evidence for the traditional cause-and-effect pathway.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a novel relationship between biology and Quantum Mechanics (QM).
- To hypothesize that the observer effect in QM is the source of biological agency.
- To re-examine the nature and origin of cognition in biological systems.
Main Methods:
- Mathematical proof based on Turing's halting problem for cognition generating code.
- Application of basic definitions of induction, deduction, and computation to QM properties.
- Analysis of the observer's role in collapsing wave functions and its biological implications.
Main Results:
- Cognition's role in generating code is mathematically demonstrable via the halting problem.
- All living cells are proposed to be cognitive observers, analogous to QM observers.
- The observer effect in QM is hypothesized as the mechanism for biological agency and negentropy production.
Conclusions:
- Biological agency and cognition may stem from quantum mechanical principles, specifically the observer effect.
- The organism acts as a whole shaping its parts, not merely parts comprising a whole.
- Understanding the interplay between cognition and QM is crucial for resolving the information problem in biology.
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