(January 25, 2014 at 3:45 am)Odysseus Wrote: Did you read the date? I have not read the paper in full as of yet, but quantum processes were measured recently thus the update on Penrose's original theory. Integrated information theory might help develop the concept further especially since this seems to physically explain a portion of the mechanism by which brain regions that separated in can generate a totality of experience collectively
Yes I read the date, and I've now finished reading the paper. Penrose's and Hameroff's hypothesis still appears susceptible to many critiques it faced back when the first proposed it... when I was born. The only particularly notable skeptical critique they seemed to have potentially evaded is Tegmark's criticism that the brain is too warm. It is still weak because Hameroff still posits a poor and KNOWN to be incorrect model of the brain, and various other parts of Orch OR have been definitively falsified.
A sizable portion of the paper consists of Penrose and Hamerroff claiming to respond to critics, and that "the evidence definitely supports Orch OR now", claims they fail to make a compelling case for at all. This sentiment seems to be effectively mirrored by everyone in the relevant disciplines, from physics to philosophy, which prima facie gives me even less reason to think Penrose and Hameroff are really on to something rather than trying to push their flawed pat theory of consciousness fervently.
