The suggestion that consciousness has its origins in quantum weirdness has lengthy been seen as a bit, effectively, bizarre. Critics argue that concepts of quantum consciousness, probably the most well-known of which posits that moments of expertise come up as quantum superpositions within the mind collapse, do little greater than merge one thriller with one other. Moreover, the place is the proof? And but there’s a vocal minority who insist we should always take the thought critically.
Hartmut Neven, who leads Google’s Quantum Synthetic Intelligence Lab, is amongst them. He initially skilled as a physicist and computational neuroscientist earlier than pioneering laptop imaginative and prescient – a kind of AI that replicates the human means to grasp visible knowledge. Later, Neven based Google Quantum AI, which in 2019 turned the primary lab to assert its quantum computer systems solved calculations which are inconceivable on a classical laptop, a milestone generally known as quantum supremacy. In December 2024, his workforce introduced one other step ahead with its new quantum processor, Willow, which it claims is extra highly effective and dependable than earlier chips.
However Neven can be within the relationship between thoughts and matter. And now, in a use case for quantum computer systems that nobody noticed coming, he reckons they might be deployed to place the thought of quantum consciousness to the take a look at. Neven spoke to New Scientist about his perception that we reside in a multiverse; why Roger Penrose’s idea of…
