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Quantum Computing and the Quantum Mind

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I believe I may have mentioned at some point in the history of this blog, or its precursor, that at least one great physicist, Roger Penrose, believes quantum mechanics offers the key to the understanding of how consciousness arises within the function of the human brain.

Today, I simply want to make the observation that quantum computing is no longer a hypothesis. It is a fact. Google declared its breakthrough this year.

Some of the premier quantitative-analytic hedge funds in the world, including Renaissance and DE Shaw, have high hopes for quantum computing and expect that it will help them discover and make profitable use of now-invisible patterns in the markets.

Let us be clear on what Google is saying. It says it has physical operating computers that make use of the quantum aspects of matter to outperform conventional (digital) computers for some specific tasks, a situation it grandly calls quantum supremacy.

The qualifying phrase there, "some specific tasks," is important. Although the world has become accustomed to general-purpose digital devices, quantum computer will steer us back in the direction of special purpose machines.

This brings me to the big thing on my mind. Will the new age of quantum supremacy shed some light on the workings of the human brain? Will simulation of the brain be one of the specific tasks for which some such computers will be wired?

The darkest question of the many that come to my mind in this connection is this: will we, in the effort finally to understand our uniqueness, now come to lose it?

"One pill makes you small, and the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all...."
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