“Consciousness implies awareness: subjective, phenomenal experience of internal and external worlds. Consciousness also implies a sense of self, feelings, choice, control of voluntary behavior, memory, thought, language, and (e.g. when we close our eyes, or meditate) internally-generated images and geometric patterns.

But what consciousness actually is remains unknown.”

– from Hameroff-Penrose (2014)

 

 

• Consciousness in the universe: A review of the ‘Orch OR’ theory

• Quantum mind

• Quantum Humor

 

 

Quantum Consciousness Resources – Books, journal papers, articles, videos, podcasts

 

Books

On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain Will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines

• Author(s): Jeff Hawkins
• Perspective: While not strictly about quantum theories, this influential work explores the nature and structure of human intelligence and consciousness, providing useful background for AI researchers interested in consciousness

 

Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics

• Author(s): Ed. Shan Gao (Oxford Press)
• Perspective: A collection of essays by philosophers and physicists, including analysis of wave function collapse, quantum theories of consciousness, and debates about quantum mechanics as explanatory frameworks.

 

The Physics Of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind And The Meaning Of Life

• Author(s): Evan Harris Walker
• Perspective: Shows how the operation of bizarre yet actual properties of elementary particles support a new and exciting theory of reality, based on the principles of quantum physics.

 

Journal/Review Articles

Consciousness in the universe: A review of the ‘Orch OR’ theory

• Authors: Stuart Hameroff, Sir Roger Penrose
• Perspective: The original journal article on the Penrose-Hameroff theory of Orch-OR.

 

Is Consciousness Research The Next Big Quantum Use Case?

• Authors: Matt Swayne
• Perspective: Research brief on researchers and companies like Google’s Quantum AI Lab and Nirvanic exploring whether quantum computing can help unravel the mysteries of consciousness, including its potential quantum origins.

 

French on Gao: A Review

• Authors: Steven French
• Perspective: Research brief on researchers and companies like Google’s Quantum AI Lab and Nirvanic exploring whether quantum computing can help unravel the mysteries of consciousness, including its potential quantum origins.

 

An Analogical Framework Inspired by Quantum Entanglement for LLM Hallucination Prevention: A Dual-Network Architecture with Semantic Anti-Correlation

• Authors: Raghav Sharma
• Perspective: An experimental framework exploring a quantum entanglement-like approach to information characterization in LLMs.

 

Podcasts & Debates

Episode 38: Quantum Physics, Reality, and Consciousness

• Participants: James Glattfelder (Stuart Preston – The Consciousness Podcast)
• Perspective: Could there be a quantum mechanical element to human consciousness? If so, could that allow a collective intelligence/consciousness in humans, like we see in termites? Could it save the plant? Is the fundamental element/property of consciousness be information?

 

Quantum Consciousness Debate: Does the Wave Function Actually Exist?

• Participants: Roger Penrose, Frederico Faggin, and Bernardo Kastrup (Essentia Foundation)
• Perspective: Two giants of science and technology—Nobel Laureate in physics, Sir Roger Penrose, and inventor of the microprocessor, Federico Faggin—meet to discuss their ideas on the relationship between Quantum Physics and consciousness, with the special participation of our own Bernardo Kastrup. While always respectful and congenial, the participants don’t shy away from disagreements.

 

Videos

Quantum Consciousness and the Origin of Life

• Channel: AZPM (YouTube) w/Stuart Hammeroff
• Perspective: A hypothesis that our brains construct conscious experience from quantum mechanical processes that are intertwined with the fabric of the Universe.

 

Is consciousness related to Quantum Physics?

• Channel: Inner Cosmos (YouTube) w/Penrose & Hammeroff
• Perspective: Join Eagleman with Nobel laureate Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff to explore the controversial idea that there could be, even possibly, any connection between quantum theory and our awareness of the world.

 

Stop Misusing Quantum Physics

• Channel: Inner Cosmos (YouTube) w/Penrose & Hammeroff
• Perspective: Join Eagleman with Nobel laureate Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff to explore the controversial idea that there could be, even possibly, any connection between quantum theory and our awareness of the world.

 

Critical/Alternative Perspectives

Episode 28: Roger Penrose on Spacetime, Consciousness, and the Universe

• Participants: Sir Roger Penrose (w/Sean Carroll)
• Perspective: In the latter part of the podcast, Carroll plays graceful host to Sir Roger and deigns to abuse him of any notions that he/Penrose has solved the hard problem, though he references Chalmers brief pushback (David being a confirmed property dualist and epiphenomalist).

 

Everything is Aware: Quantum Consciousness & Spirit in Science

• Participants: Natasha Donahue (Ancestral Science Podcast)
• Perspective: A Métis physicist and Indigenous Science educator, about Science and Spirituality, the linear and restrictive history of science, the depth of scientific knowledges within astrology and alchemy, time as a biproduct of energy exchange, how “everything is aware”.

 

Max Tegmark – Quantum Physics of Consciousness

• Participants: Max Tegmark (Closer to Truth Podcast)
• Perspective: Are quantum events required for consciousness in a very special sense, far beyond the general sense that quantum events are part of all physical systems? What would it take for quantum events, on such a micro-scale, to be relevant for brain function, which operates at the much higher level of neurons and brain circuits? Tegmark doesn’t think so – and tells us why.