Small Brains Considered - 6

Fig. 1 C₆H₆N₅O₃S₁
Codon/Amino Acid Atoms

What are our brains composed of at the lowest levels, the quantum physics levels?

That would be atoms, especially in our DNA, as shown by the formulas which reveal how many and what type of atoms are in our genome.

Review the appendices in previous posts (e.g. A, B, C, D, and E), and the graphics and link at Fig. 1.

So, "what do those atoms have to do with small brains?", you may be wondering (see more views of those atoms in Appendix SMC-6).

Well, large brains wonder about small brains, even when they shouldn't do so in an anthropomorphic way:

"if I were a small protein sitting on a replicating chromosome, could I tell which DNA segment belongs to which sister DNA? Physicists like questions like that, whether they are rooted in physics or biology."

(Quantum Biology - 13). That was a question posed by a writer, Suckjoon Jun at Small Things Considered blog.

It would not matter if Suckjoon was a human or a small protein, because the atoms depicted in Fig. 1 make up brain material, if any, and make up all of a small protein, except the small brain it does not have.

In other words, Suckjoon would not have a brain if he played with a doll (pretending he was a protein "sitting" on an imaginary "replicating chromosome").

Nucleotides of a chromosome doesn't replicate (they are replicated), a ribosome does that replicating.

How does Suchjoon think he makes scientific sense by thinking that the Carbon atoms (e.g C₅) in a molecule of a protein, or the entire group of atoms in a protein (Fig. 1), can think?

All of those atoms are made of protons and neutrons encircled by electrons, none of  them are alive, none of them are conscious, and all of them are completely abiotic and inanimate:

Regular readers know that in various and sundry posts on the Dredd Blog System we have bemoaned the dearth of research within evolutionary circles concerning the subject of abiotic evolution or Abiology.

I have even done so to the point that I now encourage more scientific textbooks with the title "Abiology 101" in addition to and in contrast with "Biology 101" (see e.g. Did Abiotic Intelligence Precede Biotic Intelligence?, Putting A Face On Machine Mutation - 3).

A fair definition of Biology is:

... the science of life or living matter in all its forms and phenomena, especially with reference to origin, growth, reproduction, structure, and behavior.

(Dictionary, emphasis added). A fair definition of Abiology, then, ought to be:

... the science of non-life or non-living matter in all its forms and

phenomena, especially with reference to origin, growth, reproduction, structure, and behavior.

(see e.g. abiological).

(Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 27). What next, a Mars Rover in love with a rock star (The Doll As Metaphor - 8)?

To be fair to Suckjoon, scientists who are much more mature in their careers think that quantum microtubulin (made of HNO atoms) are where our "soul" and "consciousness" is:

"... Roger Penrose and I have developed a theory of consciousness ... It basically proposes quantum computation in brain neuron microtubules inside neurons. So rather than neuron-to-neuron communication, we're looking at a deeper level inside neurons to give a global sense of consciousness through quantum mechanics, which results in real-time causality and free will ... it gives consciousness real-time control and a potential connection to fundamental space-time geometry, quantum space-time geometry, through Roger's objective reduction. This is consistent with Eastern spiritual traditions. Although Roger doesn't like to talk about it, I've taken the liberty of observing the implications of what he said and what we've said for consciousness, for Eastern philosophy and other spiritual traditions ... if quantum consciousness is correct, for example, if Penrose's idea is correct, we are literally ripples in the fine structure of space-time geometry, which can resonate - levels of consciousness can resonate from the Planck scale, the bottom level of the Universe, multiple hierarchical levels to the brain. This is consistent with Eastern philosophy and also indicates that afterlife, reincarnation, and out-of-body experiences that we've heard about are plausible. The quantum soul."

(Stuart Hameroff - Do we have a quantum Soul?, emphasis added). They openly admit to what I have pointed out, which is that certain portions of our "science" is more and more looking like eastern mysticism in several disciplines of microbiology (The Doll As Metaphor - 5).

Shame on them.

See the videos in the previous post of this series featuring Lakoff, Penrose, and Hemeroff for additional information.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.