Implications for Cognitive Quantum Computation and Decoherence Limits in the Presence of Large Extra Dimensions

Abstract

An interdisciplinary physical theory of emergent consciousness has previously been proposed, stemming from quantum computation-like behavior between 109 or more entangled molecular qubit states (microtubulin). This model relies on the Penrose-Diosi gravity-driven wavefunction collapse framework, and thus is subject to any secondary classical and quantum gravity effects. Specifically, if large extra spatial dimensions exist in the Universe, then the resulting corrections to Newtonian gravity cause this model to suffer serious difficulties. It is shown that if the extra dimensions are larger than 100 fm in size, then this model of consciousness is unphysical. If the dimensions are on the order of 10 fm in size, then a significantly smaller number of microtubulin than originally predicted are required to satisfy experimental constraints. Some speculation on evolution of consciousness is also offered, based on the possibility that the size of these extra dimensions may have been changing over the history of the Universe.