Searching for the Ground: Mutation, Mind, and the Epistemology of Science

Menas C. Kafatos, Robert L. Nadeau

Frederick Gregory

Shiro Ishikawa

Recently we proposed “quantum language, which was not only characterized as the metaphysical and linguistic turn of quantum mechanics but also the linguistic turn of Descartes=Kant epistemology. If this turn is regarded as progress in the history of Western philosophy, we should study the linguistic mind-body problem more than the epistemological mind-body problem. In this paper we show that to solve the mind-body problem and to propose measurement axiom in quantum language are equivalent. Since our approach is within dualistic idealism, we believe that our linguistic solution is the only true solution ( i.e., even if the other solutions exist, they are not in philosophy but in science).

Quantum Biology, r/Science AMAs

We got interested in the idea that quantum mechanics is involved in biology nearly two decades ago when Johnjoe was puzzling over weird kind of mutations that seemed to become more frequent when they provided an advantage to bacteria, and teamed up with Jim to see if quantum mechanics might provide an explanation. We wrote a paper describing a quantum model for the mutations back in 1999 (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303264799000040) and have since maintained an interest in all aspects of quantum biology. The field exploded about a decade ago when microbes and plants were shown to use quantum coherence in photosynthesis and enzymes were found to use quantum tunnelling to accelerate biochemical reactions. Evidence for quantum effects has since turned up in avian navigation, the sense of smell, even how the mind works. We believe that biology’s connection to the quantum realm provides life with the spark that makes us so different from the inanimate world. To describe this fascinating new field we recently teamed up again to write, ‘Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology’. We are here today to talk about our own work and interests in the field of quantum biology but also the fascinating work of our colleagues who have discovered weird quantum effects in such a diverse range of biological activities. We’ll do our best to answer any relevant fundamental quantum or biology questions, such as what is quantum entanglement or how do enzyme work. We are also happy to speculate on how revolutionary quantum biology technologies may be developed from these ground-breaking discoveries. We hope to stimulate interest in what, we believe, is the most exciting emerging science of the 21st century! We will be back at 1 pm ET to answer your questions, ask us anything!

Inge Svein Helland

L. Bass

The course and outcome of interactions between science and phil osophy depend on the length and depth of the preceding prepara tion. An example of adequate preparation is furnished by events leading up to the interaction between Einstein's theory of gravi tation and Kant's philosophy of space and time. The ground for the effect of Einstein's theory was prepared first by the discovery of non-Euclidean geometries, still within pure mathematics, and later by Helmholtz' analysis of physical geometry. Although the latter was at first known only to a small group of experts,1 it furnished all but a theory actually asserting the need for a non-Euclidean physical geometry. When Einstein constructed such a theory, it was Kantian philosophy which yielded ground at the controversial points. It is only in hindsight that the early events can be interpreted as a preparation for the later events; the preparation was not conscious. When science in its development knocks against one of its own basic presuppositions (not expressed, until then, within the science), this comes as a surprise; what may then be eventually seen as a preparation is to some extent fortuitous because science develops unpredictably. The philosophical effects of quantum mechanics have been less clear-cut. Several profound epistemological results are widely accepted—e.g., the non-existence of a normal description of inter phenomena,2 and the possibility of interpretation by three-valued logic.2 The deepest philosophical implications of quantum mechanics are connected with the need for the explicit introduction of events occurring in the consciousness of an observer, into the description of the quantum mechanical measuring process.3 Here the ground happens to be prepared so little that the most important results