Joint PITT-CMU Colloquium: Matthew Fisher (KITP, UCSB)
October 15, 2018 - 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Title: Are we quantum computers, or merely clever robots?
Abstract: Of course quantum information processing is not possible in the warm wet brain. There is,
however, one \loophole" - oered by nuclear spins - that must be closed before acknowledging that
we are merely clever robots. Putative neural quantum processing with nuclear spins seemingly
requires fulllment of many unrealizable conditions: for example, a common biological element
with a very isolated nuclear spin to serve as a qubit, a mechanism for quantum entangling qubits,
a mechanism for quantum memory storage and processing, a quantum to biochemical transduction
that modulates neuron ring rates, among others. My strategy, guided by these requirements, is
one of reverse engineering seeking to identify the bio-chemical substrate and mechanisms hosting
such putative quantum processing. Remarkably, a specic neural qubit and a unique collection of
ions, molecules and enzymes is identied, illuminating an apparently single path towards nuclear
spin quantum processing in the brain.
Location and Address
11 Thaw Hall