Does the Brain Function as a Quantum Phase Computer Using Phase Ternary Computation?

Abstract

Here we provide evidence that the fundamental basis of nervous communication is derived from a pressure pulse/soliton capable of computation with sufficient temporal precision to overcome any processing errors. Signalling and computing within the nervous system are complex and different phenomena. Action potentials are plastic and this makes the action potential peak an inappropriate fixed point for neural computation, but the action potential threshold is suitable for this purpose. Furthermore, neural models timed by spiking neurons operate below the rate necessary to overcome processing error. Using retinal processing as our example, we demonstrate that the contemporary theory of nerve conduction based on cable theory is inappropriate to account for the short computational time necessary for the full functioning of the retina and by implication the rest of the brain. Moreover, cable theory cannot be instrumental in the propagation of the action potential because at the activation-threshold there is insufficient charge at the activation site for successive ion channels to be electrostatically opened. Deconstruction of the brain neural network suggests that it is a member of a group of Quantum phase computers of which the Turing machine is the simplest: the brain is another based upon phase ternary computation. However, attempts to use Turing based mechanisms cannot resolve the coding of the retina or the computation of intelligence, as the technology of Turing based computers is fundamentally different. We demonstrate that that coding in the brain neural network is quantum based, where the quanta have a temporal variable and a phase-base variable enabling phase ternary computation as previously demonstrated in the retina.

Nerve Impulses Have Three Interdependent Functions: Communication, Modulation, and Computation

“…o wiring the nervous, sensory effector and neurosecretory systems during development 26 o transmission within the adult nervous system, including formation and maintenance of synaptic connections 27,28,29 • Modulation of synaptic function and memory storage after learning 30,31 • Computation within neurons and brain neural networks 5,32,33 .…”

“…Thus, threshold is a more appropriate temporal fixed point for neural communication and subsequent computation. 33,39 In non-spiking neurons, the threshold will be the point at which voltage-gated channels open to instigate transmitter release.…”

“…Most computational models of the action potential assume that it is a binary event, but it is most likely to be a quantum ternary event 33 , the CAP. It moves along an axon at a defined speed determined by the transmission dynamics of the that particular membrane.…”

“…The similarities of quantum events and computation between action potentials have recently been discussed 33 and all quantum computation in a network can be described as the result of a combination of collisions of quanta. In an un-programmed network, like the brain, this process is dependent upon the timing of each event.…”

“…In the retina the activity of about 130 million light receptors (rods and cones) in each eye are coded down to around 1000,000 neurons in each optic nerve, a huge reduction from input to output which requires error free computation. 90,33 Consideration of the retinal 'circuit diagram' provided by Tsukamoto and Omi 91 strongly suggests that the retinal circuitry works by phase-ternary computation, rather than binary analysis. 90 In addition, the timing required for the digital period of computation must take place within 10 microseconds.…”