

Adaptive quantum computation effect in bacterial photosynthesis? - haidut
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/feb/13-is-quantum-mechanics-controlling-your-thoughts

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goodside
'Electrons moving through a leaf or a green sulfur bacterial bloom are
effectively performing a quantum “random walk”—a sort of primitive quantum
computation—to seek out the optimum transmission route for the solar energy
they carry. “We have shown that this quantum random-walk stuff really exists,”
Fleming says. “Have we absolutely demonstrated that it improves the
efficiency? Not yet. But that’s our conjecture. And a lot of people agree with
it.”'

This the last paragraph in the article, which has the title "Is Quantum
Mechanics Controlling Your Thoughts?". The fact that this isn't the _first_
paragraph, beneath the headline "Scientist speculates adaptive quantum
computation effect in bacterial photosynthesis" makes this a shining example
of what's wrong with science journalism, and why everyone should stop reading
it.

~~~
pg
Fixed.

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Eliezer
No.

Or rather, only in the same sense that quantum mechanics is the underlying
level of organization for _everything_.

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cma
I don't think we know enough about photosynthesis to know whether that is the
sense or not.

<http://www.scottaaronson.com/lightharvest.gif>

    
    
        Shown above is a light-harvesting molecule (image 
        snagged from Alán’s slides), which apparently is 
        efficient at concentrating light at its center for 
        essentially the same reason the Childs et al. quantum 
        walk reaches the target vertex exponentially faster 
        than a classical walk: namely, because of destructive 
        interference between the paths that point backward, 
        toward the leaves.  According to Alán, what plants do 
        to harvest sunlight is not entirely unrelated either 
        (it also involves quantum coherence), and fully 
        understanding these mechanisms in quantum information 
        terms might conceivably be useful in designing better 
        solar cells.

~~~
goodside
cma: This article was originally posted with the title used by Discover, "Is
Quantum Mechanics Controlling Your Thoughts?", and Eliezer's "No" was in
response to that. PG changed the submitted headline after my earlier comment
below.

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WilliamLP
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Anderson_(writer)>

"[Mark Anderson] is a proponent of the Oxfordian theory that the Elizabethan
court poet-playwright Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford wrote the works
conventionally attributed to William Shakespeare."

Also, Stuart Hameroff, cited in the part about quantum consciousness is a
grade A crank. Listen to his presentation at the Beyond Belief conference if
you don't believe me. He believes, among other things, that faster than light
communication is responsible for the "paradox" that we apparently make certain
decisions before we are consciously aware of having made them.

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henryl
I thought photosynthesis was amazingly inefficient compared to our best solar
panels. <http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7241e/w7241e05.htm>

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TrevorJ
I've often thought that TRUE free will can't be explained by our current
understanding of chemistry and physics above the quantum level so I guess
either it is an illusion, or it is derived someplace else.

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caffeine
At least this isn't that Law of Attraction garbage ... still, no. It's not.

