ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

46 Brain/Mind/Computer
formation of new synapses along given neural net patterns. Synaptic strength and
neuronal connection depend on intracellular cytoskeletal rearrangements and
axoplasmic transport to maintain synaptic efficacy and to form new synapses and
dendritic spines. Ingredients for synapses, membrane proteins, receptors, ion
channels, enzymes, and apparatus for neurotransmitter releasing mechanisms are
synthesized in cell bodies and transported to synapses along relatively great
lengths by axoplasmic transport, a coordinated effort of cytoskeletal microtubules.
Synaptic modulation may represent a mechanism by which separate dynamic
layers in an information hierarchy communicate and “tune” each other.
A dozen models of cytoskeletal information processing have been published
and will be reviewed in Chapter 8. Nanoscale activities in cytoskeletal lattices
may offer a future bridge between consciousness and emerging nanotechnology.
As complex and highly connected as neuronal branches are (i.e. dendritic trees the
cytoskeleton within all neurons may be a forest within those trees.