ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

Toward Ultimate Computing 13
increases the potential capacity for information processing immensely.
Microtubules are the most visible cytoskeletal structures. Making some rough
assumptions about cytoskeletal density (i.e. microtubules spaced about 1000
nanometers apart) and the volume of brain which is neuronal cytoplasm leads to
about 10 14 microtubule subunits in a human brain (ignoring neurofilaments and
other cytoskeletal elements). As described in Chapters 5 and 6, the frequency of
cytoskeletal subunit state changes may be greater than billions per second! The
cytoskeleton is capable not only of immense information capacity, but appears to
be designed such that interacting conformational state patterns may perform
computing functions. Several theories which propose such mechanisms will be
described in Chapter 8.
Figure 1.4: Six dimensional hypercube with 64 nodes, and 6 connections per
node. Computer generation by Conrad Schneiker.
The brain is a continuous system. Classical computers have operated on
recursive repetitive functions to process information in batches and the output is
obtained as the final product. Similarly, most parallel processing designs have
discrete input and output points. Carl Hewitt (1985) has described open systems
within computers in which processing may never halt, which can provide output
while computing is still in operation, and can accept input from sources not
anticipated when the computation began. Like the human brain/mind, open
continuous systems can interact with the environment and adapt to new situations.
Hewitt describes an asynchronous parallel computer system which can make use
of multiple inputs and outputs and whose parallel elements are connected by
“arbiters” which “weigh” and reconcile differing content, and can provide
continuous input and output. Among brain neurons, “arbiters” would appear to be