Encinitas 2023 2_6 stuart hameroff 1080p

Astrobiology and Astro Consciousness presented at the Summer Symposium: Neuroscience Needs a Revolution to Understand Consciousness hosted by California Institute for Human Science and the Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona August 18-20, 2023 Encinitas, California The ‘quantum pleasure principle’ – How ‘objective reduction’ (OR) could have sparked the origin and evolution of life Stuart Hameroff, MD The University of Arizona, Anesthesiology, Psychology, Tucson, Arizona, USA. Research Faculty, California Institute for Human Science,, Encinitas, California, USA Categories by Discipline 4.0 Physical and Biological Sciences Primary Topic Area - TSC Taxonomy [04.14]........Quantum theories of consciousness Abstract Which came first, life or consciousness? Most say life, but Penrose ‘objective reduction’ (‘OR’), a proposed cause for (proto-)conscious moments due to self-collapse of the quantum wavefunction, and the only specific scientific mechanism for the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness yet proposed, would have been present in the early universe prior to life. Quantum states in biology are supported by organic ‘aromatic ring’ electron cloud molecules which can have quantum superposition states capable of reaching OR threshold (by E=h/t). Aromatic rings in amphipathic molecules (non-polar aromatic ring on one end, polar tail on the other) were apparently present in ‘primordial soups’ from which life on earth emerged. Amphipathics form ‘micelles’ (Oparin, Haldane) around confluences of aromatic rings in which quantum coherent superposition leading to OR ‘proto-conscious’ events could have occurred. Occasionally at least, such events would entail pleasureable qualia which could then serve as feedback for self-organization and purposeful behavior to optimize pleasure, and avoid displeasure. Life began, developed and evolved, e.g. to microtubules which can orchestrate OR events for full, rich consciousness. (As a theory of consciousness, Penrose-Hameroff Orchestrated OR, ‘Orch OR’, in brain microtubules has more explanatory power, connection to biology and supportive evidence than other theories combined. Could OR events in aromatic molecules elsewhere in the universe, e.g. polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in interstellar dust, have also spawned life and driven its evolution?