ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

Toward Ultimate Computing 17
in the brain is that of strengthening of specific synapses within neural circuits, an
idea generated by Donald Hebb (1949). As will be described in Chapters 4 and 5,
dynamic structural activities of the cytoskeleton are responsible for all
cytoplasmic rearrangements including formation and regulation of dendritic
spines and synapses. The spines are branchings of dendrites which themselves are
branchings of neurons. A further dimension of complexity, these cytoskeletal
appendages are prime candidates for “synaptic plasticity,” the cornerstone for
prevalent models of brain learning and memory.
1.3.3 Cooperativity and Coherence
Collective effects manifest as diffuse reverberation, sustained oscillation,
phase transitions, and deterministic chaos have been observed in computer
simulation of parallel networks (Choi and Huberman, 1984). Collective
mechanisms can exert long-range cooperativity and an executive level of
organization within parallel arrays. Collective phase transitions in brain parallel
arrays could be a fabric of consciousness, an “idea” emerging like the property of
superconductivity from a large number of simple, “aligned” subunits. In most
views the neuronal synapse is the brain’s fundamental subunit, however synaptic
activities are the net result of dynamic processes orchestrated by the cytoskeleton.
Layers of cytoskeletal organization are evident within neurons, and their
participation in cognitive functions appears unavoidable. Thus the highly
branched cytoskeleton may be another dimension of brain organization, perhaps
related to neuronal networks as a “fractal.” Many natural processes manifest
fractals, growth patterns in which local areas are scaled down images of the entire
pattern. This occurs through some form of long range correlation in the pattern:
components “know about each other over distances far in excess of the range of
the forces between them” (Sander, 1986). Fractal relationships are one type of
long range cooperativity (Figures 1.7 and 1.8). Densely parallel interconnected
networks of cytoskeletal structures resemble larger scale networks of neurons, and
may be viewed as fractal subdimensions of neural networks.
Long range cooperativity and collective mechanisms are favored by the
property of coherence which means peak energy excitations within an area occur
“in phase,” or simultaneously as in a laser. How may coherence arise in
distributed processes DeCallatay (1986) proposes that coherence in the brain and
AI need to be imparted from the top of a hierarchy downward, like the chief
executive of a corporation setting goals and intentions. A different view is that of
an underlying rhythm or beat to which all elements are tuned. Rhythmic coupling
among neurons may be important, and some interpreters of brain electrical
activity (EEG) believe regional brain wave entrainment leads to functional
regions of mental representation. A more fundamental coherence at the level of
protein assemblies may be universally important for biological cooperativity and
communication.