The Brain As A Clock Or A Computer?
Consciousness, higher levels of thought, and how the brain works are still a mystery today. Over history, the functioning of the human mind has been seen through various analogies, usually using the most advanced technology of the time.
Ancient Greeks saw it as a water clock. Later thinkers believed it was powered by the movement of body fluids, then a mechanical clock, then an electric circuit. Today, we see it as a very powerful computer powered by electric signals, with each neuron a sort of biological transistor.
In practice, none of these explanations, including the “biological computer,” fully account for how the brain works.
For example, the computation capacity of the brain works on only 12-25 watts of electrical power, barely enough to power an LED light. In contrast, just one AI chip from Nvidia consumes 250-700W for much less “thinking” capacity.
It is also unclear if “more computing power” is actually the answer to generating complex thoughts and abstract reasoning to go beyond just guessing like LLMs (Large Language Models) are currently doing.
This is why other theories have been proposed, notably that quantum effects are responsible for the emergence of consciousness.
Is the Brain Quantum?
Penrose’s Support
There is a theory dubbed “quantum consciousness,” which stipulates that brain functions and consciousness are derived from quantum effects like the collapse of the quantum wavefunction.
This is a strange part of quantum physics, where particles go from a state of simultaneous properties to a more “normal” state where they have one defined characteristic. It has notably been popularized by the concept of Schrödinger’s cat.
Source: Wikipedia
The quantum consciousness theory has been championed by Sir Roger Penrose, a famous physicist who won the Nobel Prize In Physics in 2020, for his work in astrophysics and the mathematical modeling of black holes.
Source: Nobel Prize
While he may be out of his immediate field of expertise, Penrose’s reputation as a world-class genius gave some attention to this idea.
Microtubules Calculations
Penrose’s theory centers on structures in neurons called microtubules, which form the “skeleton” of the cells. These structures are essential in performing computations that ultimately result in consciousness. This idea was first published in 1996.
Source: Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona
This theory would also explain how general anaesthetic works, a question still open despite almost a century of use. It would work by impairing the quantum effect in the tubulin, blocking consciousness but not unconscious brain activity.
You can also watch Sir Penrose explain his theory himself in this 42-minute video:
Criticisms
The idea of quantum computing happening in the brain has been immediately criticized by a large part of the scientific community. The main problem is that quantum entanglement and collapse of the quantum wavefunction can only be observed in very special environments, generally with pure elements, vacuum, and/or very low temperature, often barely a few degrees above absolute zero.
These are also the type of conditions currently required for quantum computers, as we described in our article on the topic: “The Current State of Quantum Computing”.
An organic brain would be too warm and too complex of a medium to conduct any quantum calculation.
A String Of Quantum Discoveries In The Brain
The idea that no quantum phenomenon could take place in the messy context of organic matter is being increasingly challenged.
We already suspect that the magnetic sense of birds, allowing them to locate the north and migrate, is linked to such a quantum effect.
When these radicals eventually react, the outcome will depend on the strength and orientation of the magnetic field. The thinking is that the bird is sensitive to this in a way that allows it to tell north from south. The process is highly quantum as the radical pair electrons are entangled, which means that they act as a single quantum object, even though they are some distance apart.
Musser, ”Radical consciousness theory?”
Recent Measurements
In 2022, an experiment seems to have demonstrated that quantic signals in the brain correlate with “heartbeat-evoked potentials” (HEPs). This could demonstrate that quantum entanglement is possible in a human body.
(Quantum entanglement is when 2 particles are paired together, and can “communicate” with each other, even without a signal and quicker than the speed of light).
More recently, in April 2024, a new insight into the brain demonstrated that at least some quantum effect can exist in neurons, where they were previously thought impossible.
More precisely, it is a phenomenon called superradiance. In a publication titled “Ultraviolet Superradiance from Mega-Networks of Tryptophan in Biological Architectures“, they demonstrate that large structures built out of the amino acid tryptophan, like neurons tubulin, can display superradiance.
Source: ACS Publication
Such display of stable quantum effects from micron-scale structures is unprecedented, especially for materials as complex and “noisy” as biological molecules in living cells.
Going maybe even further, some scientists are proposing that memories in organic brains are created through a holographic system using superradiance.
So Is The Brain A Quantum Supercomputer?
It is way too early to say for certain. However, with the discovery of superradiance in tubulin, the main argument that quantum effects cannot work in neurons’ substructures is severely weakened.
There is still quite a gap from this observation to demonstrating that consciousnesses is the result of “gravity-induced collapse of the quantum wavefunction”, per Penrose’s theory. Nevertheless, the latest discovery implies that neurons could transmit information through optical signals, like optic fibers.
This would replace the more commonly understood idea that neuronal signaling involves ions moving across membranes from one end of the neuron to the other.
Superradiance is an extremely quick phenomenon that happens in the range of picoseconds (a billionth of a millisecond). This would make any signal transmitted through this effect hundreds of millions of times faster than chemical processes alone would allow.
Applications
Neurodegenerative Diseases
While fascinating, it might not be obvious what is the direct application of such discovery.
One could be helping to understand and prevent neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s has been associated with high degrees of oxidative stress—when the body carries a large number of free radicals, which can emit damaging, high-energy UV light particles.
Tryptophan can absorb this ultraviolet light and re-emit it at a lower, safer energy. And, as this study found, very large tryptophan networks can do this even more efficiently and robustly because of their powerful quantum effects.
Source: The Quantum Insider
This is not really a new theory, with microtubules hypothesized to be involved in Alzheimer’s since 1989. It is known that tau protein detaches from microtubules and sticks to other tau molecules in the disease, forming threads that eventually join to form tangles inside neurons.
Quantum Computing
The demonstration of a quantum effect surviving in a messy environment challenges everything we thought we knew about these phenomena.
It could be of great importance for the emerging field of quantum computing. The main hindrance to developing quantum computers is keeping the quantum effect going instead of collapsing into “normal” matter.
Until now, the only strategy has been to create an ultra-cold special environment for storing the qubit. This is both a technical challenge and very energy intensive, pumping up the complexity and price of such a type of computing.
“These new results will be of interest to the large community of researchers in open quantum systems and quantum computation because the theoretical methods used in this study are widely employed in those fields to understand complex quantum networks in noisy environments”
Pr. Nicolò Defenu – Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich in Switzerland
This opens the way for more efficient and maybe more stable and less energy-intensive processes for the future generations of quantum computers.
Another option could be to leverage superradiance, now demonstrated to be a much more robust phenomenon than previously thought.
“Single-photon superradiance promises to yield new tools for storing quantum information, and this work showcases its effects in a totally new and different context.
We will certainly be examining closely the implications for quantum effects in living systems for years to come.”
Marlan Scully – Laser pioneer & theoretical quantum optics physicist
So, not only could computing itself one day be based on micron-scale quantum effect, but memory/information storage could use superradiance as well.
Biological Computers
Lastly, if neurons are indeed able to perform some sort of quantum computing in any form, this could change the potential of cerebral organoids. These are artificially grown brain tissues currently used for biotech research on neurodegenerative diseases and the brain in general.
Organoids could be used to create biological chip processors, which would be a lot more energy-efficient than silicon-based chips. With AI predicted to consume an increasing portion of our global energy supply, this could become required sooner rather than later.
We explored the progress of cerebral organoid technology in our article “Meaningful Steps Toward Organoid Intelligence Being Taken.”
Investing In Quantum Brain
As an idea at the very edge of science, there is currently no direct application of these discoveries. However, quantum computing and cerebral organoids-related companies are available to investors.
You can invest in quantum-related companies through many brokers, and you can find here, on securities.io, our recommendations for the best brokers in the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, as well as many other countries.
If you are not interested in picking specific quantum computing companies, you can also look into quantum computing ETFs like Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM) which will provide a more diversified exposure to capitalize on the quantum computing industry. Or you can look at our article on the “5 Best Quantum Computing Companies”.
Quantum & Neural Computing Companies
1. Intel
Intel is a major chip producer and seems to target to leverage this strength into the quantum computing arena.
It recently released “Tunnel Falls”, the “ most advanced silicon spin qubit chip”. What is remarkable is that it is not a prototype but a chip built at scale, with a 95% yield rate across the wafer and voltage uniformity. This opens the way to mass production of quantum computing chips, something for now elusive in a nascent and quickly changing industry.
Source: Intel
Faithful to its roots, Intel is also developing the software to utilize its chips, with the release of the Intel Quantum SDK. This provides the guideline for programmers to develop software for quantum computing compatible with Intel quantum chip design, which has historically been a very strong & profitable business moat for Intel’s conventional chip business.
Source: Intel
The arrival of scalable quantum chip manufacturing could be as revolutionary for the industry as any other more technical scientific breakthrough, bringing down costs, and setting common programming standards and chip architectures.
Intel is a company that knows from experience how strong a force this can be in the computing industry. It is still riding on the tail of its innovations and associated patents from the 1960s onward.
2. BICO Group AB (BICO.ST)
One way to study the brain and nerves is to use cerebral organoids. These artificially created mini-brains can be used to replicate in a lab the reaction of neurons to potential therapies, helping researchers find treatment for the full real brain.
We discussed in more detail how it works and the latest developments in that field in “Meaningful Steps Toward Organoid Intelligence Being Taken.”
Recently, much more complex cerebral organoids have been 3D printed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They did so with a Cellink bioprinter, opening new potential for this machine in neuroscience research.
Source: Cellink
In 2021, Cellink was renamed as the BICO Group, following its acquisition of Cytena in 2019 and Scienion in 2020.
Cellink is still the brand name for the bioprinting part of the business. It is the idea to re-use 3D printing methods to create on-demand 3D tissues or organs. (You can read a discussion on this topic in “3D Printing Human Organs – How Realistic Is It?”).
Bioprinting represents around 1/5th of the business, with the bioscience automation segment making more than 3/5th of revenues.
Source: BICO Group AB
While not alone in the field, Cellink is clearly a very advanced bioprinting equipment manufacturer. Pr Zhang’s achievement using these machines shows their potential in neurology research, a field that is not really using bioprinting at this time.
In the long run, bioprinting companies are likely to evolve from providing tools to researchers to becoming suppliers of pharmaceutical companies’ bioprinting therapies for patients. This will, in turn, completely change the number of bioprinters in use and, more importantly, the volume of consumables sold every month.
This is the same process that occurred for other biolab equipment manufacturers, including genome sequencing machines from PacBio (PACB) and Illumina (ILMN), which end up making 80% of their revenues from recurring sales of consumables.
If cerebral organoid research is given an aggressive push due to its potential in computing and quantum physics research, it could be very beneficial for companies involved in producing them, like Cellink/BICO.
3. Final Spark
Founded by Martin Kutter and Fred Jordan in 2014 and based out of Switzerland, Final Spark advocates for biological chip processors that consume much less energy (1 billion times more efficient than silicon chips).
As the startup claims, it has already tested 10 million neurons in its endeavor to build thinking machines from live human neurons derived from skin.
The startup is leveraging sophisticated cell-culturing techniques to exhibit the capability of self-sustaining computing for the creation of future AI models.
Final Spark is now offering access to its biocomputing capacity via the cloud. Its Neuroplatform is available to research institutions at a monthly rate of $500 per user.