1. The
‘Conscious Pilot’
Stuart Hameroff
University of Arizona

2. Non-conscious/
Unconscious Conscious
Chalmers Easy problems Hard problem
Crick/Koch Zombie modes Consciousness
Block (?) Access Cs Phenomenal Cs.
McCrone Habitual Conscious
Hodgson Auto-pilot

3. Non-conscious/
Unconscious Conscious
Chalmers Easy problems Hard problem
Crick/Koch Zombie modes Consciousness
Block (?) Access Cs Phenomenal Cs.
McCrone Habitual Conscious
Hodgson Auto-pilot Conscious pilot (SH)

4. Cognitive brain functions are conducted in
either non-conscious or conscious modes
Sensory processing
Control of behavior
Learning
Memory
Attention
Sleep
Eye movements
Visceral/Sexual functions
…either accompanied by consciousness, or not
…what is the distinction?

5. Gamma synchrony EEG Cognitive brain functions are conducted in
either non-conscious or conscious modes
Sensory processing
Control of behavior
Learning
Memory
Attention
Sleep
Eye movements
Visceral/Sexual functions
…either accompanied by consciousness, or not
…what is the distinction?
Gamma synchrony EEG

6. Non-conscious/
Unconscious
Chalmers Easy problems
Crick/Koch Zombie modes
Block (?) Access Cs.
McCrone Habitual
Hodgson Auto-pilot
…are accounted for by neuronal network computation based on axonal-dendritic feed-forward and feed-back synaptic networks….
Brain as computer with neuronal firings as ‘bits’ …..classical ‘neuro’computation…

7. We can explain the non-conscious
computerized activities of the auto-pilot

8. We can explain the non-conscious
computerized activities of the auto-pilot
By computation in brain neuronal networks

9. brain composed of individual cells – “neurons”
Ramon-y-Cajal:
brain composed of individual cells – “neurons”
Computing in the brain…

11. Integrate

12. Fire

26. What about consciousness?

27. We can explain the computerized activities of the auto-pilot
Where’s the pilot?

30. The conscious pilot (NCC) is dendritic synchrony,
moving through the brain’s neuronal networks
to mediate consciousness

31. Where in the brain
does consciousness occur?

32. BING!!!
B: Plato believed that consciousness occurred in the brain as a representation of the outside world.

33. Consciousness with attention involves
activity in both prefrontal and posterior regions..
…top-down, bottom-up, recurrent feedback
….more or less global

34. BING!!! But sensations of pure color arise from isolated activity
in visual cortex color area V4 (Zeki)
BING!!!

35. Deeper emotional feelings occur
in emotional core
BING!!!
Dopaminergic paths in VTA/nucleus accumbens cingulate/limbic
“emotional core”
So some process/activity is specific for consciousness

36. In the brain consciousness can occur Globally Locally Regionally
(e.g. attention-mediated, bottom-up/top-down; ?holographic)
Locally
(e.g. Zeki and pure color experience in V4)
Regionally
(posterior cortex, e.g. Malach;
brainstem/limbic, Panksepp, Damasio)
‘Here, there or everywhere’

37. In the brain consciousness can occur Globally Locally Regionally
(e.g. attention-mediated, bottom-up/top-down; ?holographic)
Locally
(e.g. Zeki and pure color experience in V4)
Regionally
(posterior cortex, e.g. Malach;
brainstem/limbic, Panksepp, Damasio)
‘Here, there or everywhere’
Accompanied by gamma synchrony EEG

42. Sideways Synchrony
Neuronal network dendrites linked by gap junctions (“dendritic webs”) depolarize coherently in gamma synchrony
Dendritic post-synaptic potentials are synchronized, may drive coherent spikes

43. BING
BING
BING
BING

44. Sideways synchrony
Dendritic webs embedded in neuronal networks
…allowing collective, synchronized integration phases in
laterally-connected input/integration layers

45. BING BING BING

46. The Halle Berry neuron (Koch)
BING!!!

47. FIRE BING!!! BING!!! BING!!! BING!!! BING!!! BING!!!

48. In the brain..

63. BING!!!
CPU

64. BING!!! Top/Up (Frontal cortex) Down/Bottom (Thalamus;
Posterior cortex)

65. Top
(Frontal cortex)
Intermediate
BING!!!
(Jackendoff,
Gray)
“Handshake”
Bottom
(Thalamus; Posterior cortex)

66. Thalamus; Posterior cortex)
Top
(Frontal cortex)
BING!!!
Bottom
Thalamus; Posterior cortex)

67. W H E R ‘S

68. T H E

69. B I N G ?

78. Caffeine THC Marijuana LSD
Psychoactive drugs have quantum ring structures
Caffeine THC Marijuana LSD
Nicotine MDMA Ecstasy Chocolate

79. ,
                                                     

90. Conscious Anesthetized
Proteins involved in conscious processes have quantum
pockets controlling state: “Schrödinger’s proteins”
Conscious Anesthetized
…in which anesthetic gases act via quantum London forces to
selectively erase consciousness
Hameroff S (2006) Anesthesiology 105:

91. Where’s the BING?

92. quantum superposition of different states

93. Consciousness is linked to quantum gravity/
fundamental spacetime geometry
Quantum superpositions
which avoid decoherence
grow to meet threshold
Sir Roger Penrose given by E=h/t,
undergo spontaneous
“self-collapse”
objective reduction
a fundamental moment
of consciousness
Consciousness IS a sequence of quantum state reductions
(e.g. Whitehead, Henry Stapp)

94. BING!!!

95. B I N G

96. BING!!! BING!!! BING!!! BING!!!

97. BING!!! BING!!! BING!!! BING!!!
By E=h/t, a 25 msec gamma synchrony moment of consciousness requires superposition of tubulins in ~100,000 neurons

99. But the brain is too warm and wet for delicate
quantum effects !? Decoherence
Max Tegmark calculated microtubule decoherence
Time based on solitons of seconds, too brief.
Considering Orch OR stipulations
Superposition separation of atomic nucleus
diameter, 7 orders of magnitude more stable
Debye plasma layer surrounding/shielding
microtubules
Ordered water polymerized actin gel state
embedding microtubules
Laser-like Frohlich pumped coherence
Topological quantum error correction
Hydrophobic pocket London forces
Hagan, Hameroff and Tuszynski,
Physical Reviews E, :061901          

100. Tubulin subunits have negatively charged tails extending outward, attracting positive ions and creating a Debye plasma layer shield
Quantum London forces are
protected within hydrophobic pockets

101. Microtubules are
transiently
Embedded in
dense actin gel
(lower left);
Isolated from
environment

102. Microtubule Fibonacci lattice may be ideally
designed for topological quantum error
tolerance/correction (Penrose, 1998)
                                            

103. Quantum coherence in protein scaffolding surrounding
Theory is nice, but…
Engel et al Nature 446, , 2007 Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems
Quantum coherence in protein scaffolding surrounding
chlorophyll structures in photosynthesis at warm temperatures

104. Ouyang & Awschalom (Science 301:1074-78, 2003) studied
quantum spin transfer between quantum dots connected by
benzene rings (the same as in electron resonance amino acids)
and observed superposition of the spin states….

107. Where’s the BING?

108. OR
BING

109. Essence of experience was embedded in fundamental spacetime geometry,
reproduced in the brain
BING!!

110. Mind Matter Quantum Spacetime Neutral Monism Quantum Consciousness
Objective Decoherence or
Reduction Measurement
Quantum Spacetime

111. Dendritic synchrony moves through the brain’s
Conclusions
Dendritic synchrony moves through the brain’s
neurocomputational networks to mediate
consciousness – the ‘conscious pilot’ (NCC)

112. Dendritic synchrony moves through the brain’s
Conclusions
Dendritic synchrony moves through the brain’s
neurocomputational networks to mediate
consciousness – the ‘conscious pilot’ (NCC)
Is conscious experience thick or thin?
It depends on the conscious pilot

113. Dendritic synchrony moves through the brain’s
Conclusions
Dendritic synchrony moves through the brain’s
neurocomputational networks to mediate
consciousness – the ‘conscious pilot’ (NCC)
Quantum computations in microtubules
are coupled to dendritic synchrony by Penrose OR.

114. Dendritic synchrony moves through the brain’s
Conclusions
Dendritic synchrony moves through the brain’s
neurocomputational networks to mediate
consciousness – the ‘conscious pilot’ (NCC)
Quantum computations in microtubules
are coupled to dendritic synchrony by Penrose OR.
To solve the ‘hard problem’, consciousness must be
considered as a process in fundamental spacetime
geometry coupled to brain function
(psychophysical bridging to pan-protopsychism)

115. BING!!!