Papers
Topics
Authors
Recent
Assistant
AI Research Assistant
Well-researched responses based on relevant abstracts and paper content.
Custom Instructions Pro
Preferences or requirements that you'd like Emergent Mind to consider when generating responses.
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash 71 tok/s
Gemini 2.5 Pro 54 tok/s Pro
GPT-5 Medium 22 tok/s Pro
GPT-5 High 29 tok/s Pro
GPT-4o 88 tok/s Pro
Kimi K2 138 tok/s Pro
GPT OSS 120B 446 tok/s Pro
Claude Sonnet 4.5 35 tok/s Pro
2000 character limit reached

Quantum physics, digital computers, and life from a holistic perspective (2403.06306v1)

Published 10 Mar 2024 in quant-ph

Abstract: Quantum physics is a linear theory, so it is somewhat puzzling that it can underlie very complex systems such as digital computers and life. This paper investigates how this is possible. Physically, such complex systems are necessarily modular hierarchical structures, with a number of key features. Firstly, they cannot be described by a single wave function: only local wave functions can exist, rather than a single wave function for a living cell, a cat, or a brain. Secondly, the quantum to classical transition is characterised by contextual wave-function collapse shaped by macroscopic elements that can be described classically. Thirdly, downward causation occurs in the physical hierarchy in two key ways: by the downward influence of time dependent constraints, and by creation, modification, or deletion of lower level elements. Fourthly, there are also logical modular hierarchical structures supported by the physical ones, such as algorithms and computer programs, They are able to support arbitrary logical operations, which can influence physical outcomes as in computer aided design and 3-d printing. Finally, complex systems are necessarily open systems, with heat baths playing a key role in their dynamics and providing local arrows of time that agree with the cosmological direction of time that is established by the evolution of the universe.

Definition Search Book Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com
References (96)
  1. Ball, P. (2023) How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
  2. Mitchell, K. (2023) Free Agents: How Evolution Gave us Free Will (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
  3. Hartwell, L., Hopfield, J., Leibler, S., and Murray, A. (1999) “From molecular to modular cell biology” Nature 402 Supplement:C47-C52.
  4. Ellis, G. (2016) How Can Physics Underlie the Mind? Top-Down Causation in the Human Context (Heidelberg: Springer)
  5. Laughlin, R., and Pines, D. (2000) “The theory of everything” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97:28-31.
  6. Isham, C. J. (2001) Lectures on quantum theory Mathematical and structural foundations (Mumbai: Allied Publishers.)
  7. Dasgupta, S. (2016) Computer science: A very short introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
  8. Ellis, G., and Drossel, B. (2019). “How downwards causation occurs in digital computers” Foundations of Physics 49:1253-1277.
  9. Ellis, G. (2012) “On the limits of quantum theory: contextuality and the quantum-classical cut” Annals of Physics 327:1890-1932. (arXiv:1108.5261).
  10. Ellis, G. (2023) “Quantum physics and biology: the local wavefunction approach” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2533:012019 (IOP Publishing).
  11. Drossel, B (2015) “On the relation between the second law of thermodynamics and classical and quantum mechanics”. In B. Falkenburg and M. Morrison (eds.), Why more is different (Springer Verlag, Heidelberg); (arXiv 1408.6358)
  12. Drossel, B., and Ellis, G. (2018) “Contextual wavefunction collapse: An integrated theory of quantum measurement” New Journal of Physics 20:113025.
  13. Ellis, G., and Di Sia, P. (2023) “Complexity Theory in Biology and Technology: Broken Symmetries and Emergence” Symmetry 15:1945.
  14. Donald, M. (2001) A Mind so Rare::The Evolution of Human Consciousness (W.W. Norton and Company).
  15. Noble, D. (2012) “A theory of biological relativity: no privileged level of causation” Interface Focus 2:55-64.
  16. Anderson, P. (1972) “More Is Different: Broken symmetry and the nature of the hierarchical structure of science”. Science 177:393-396.
  17. Arthur, W. (2009). The nature of technology: What it is and how it evolves (London: Penguin UK).
  18. Cao, W.,et al (2023). “The future transistors”. Nature 620:501-515.
  19. Mellisinos, A.C. (1990) Principles of Modern Technology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
  20. Invitation to sociology: A humanistic perspective (New York: Anchor Books).
  21. Ellis, G. (2005) “Physics, complexity and causality”. Nature 435:743.
  22. “Essentials of cell biology: What is a cell?” Scitable Nature Education.
  23. Bray, D. (1995). “Protein molecules as computational elements in living cells” Nature 376:307-312.
  24. Ellis, G. F. R., and Kopel, J. (2018) “The Dynamical Emergence of Biology From Physics: Branching Causation via Biomolecules” Frontiers in physiology 9: 1966.
  25. Lehn, J-M. (2004) “Supramolecular chemistry: from molecular information towards self-organization and complex matter” Reports on progress in physics 67:249-265.
  26. Lehn, J-M. (2007) “From supramolecular chemistry towards constitutional dynamic chemistry and adaptive chemistry” Chem. Soc. Rev. 36:151-160.
  27. Berridge, M. (2014) Cell Signalling Biology. (London: Portland Press)
  28. Karplus, M., and Kuriyan, J. (2005) “Molecular dynamics and protein function” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:6679-6685.
  29. Karplus, M. (2014) “Development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems: from H+ H2 to biomolecules” Angewandte Chemie International Edition 53:9992-10005.
  30. Abramsky, S. (2022), “Nothing Will Come of Everything: Software Towers and Quantum Towers”. In Wuppuluri and Stewart (Eds), From Electrons to Elephants and Elections, 539-552.
  31. Farnsworth, K., Ellis, G., and Jaeger, L. (2017). “Living through Downward Causation”. In From matter to life: Information and causality, p.303.
  32. Wagner, A. (2014). Arrival of the fittest: solving evolution’s greatest puzzle. (London:Penguin).
  33. Ellis, G. (2019) “Top-down effects in the brain” Physics of life reviews 31:11-27.
  34. Von Bertalanffy, L. (1950) “The theory of open systems in physics and biology” Science 111:23-29.
  35. Peacocke, A (1989) The Physical Chemistry of Biological Organization (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
  36. Schrodinger, E. (2012). What is life?: The physical aspect of the living cell. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
  37. Bennett, C., and Landauer, R. (1985) “The fundamental physical limits of computation” Scientific American 253:48-57.
  38. Landauer, R. (1991) “Information is physical” Physics Today 44:23-29.
  39. Landauer, R. (1988) “Dissipation and noise immunity in computation and communication” Nature 335:779-784.
  40. Bérut, A., et al (2012) “Experimental verification of Landauer’s principle linking information and thermodynamics” Nature 483:187-189.
  41. Arnol’d, V I (1989) Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics (Springer)
  42. Noble, D (2002) “Modeling the heart–from genes to cells to the whole organ.” Science 295:1678-1682.
  43. Fletcher, A. (2019). “Action potential: generation and propagation”. Anaesthesia and intensive care medicine 20:243-247.
  44. Karlebach, G., and Shamir, R. (2008) “Modelling and analysis of gene regulatory networks” Nature Reviews Molecular cell biology 9:770-780.
  45. Carroll, S. (2008) “Evo-devo and an expanding evolutionary synthesis: a genetic theory of morphological evolution” Cell 134:25-36.
  46. Simon, S. (2013) The Oxford Solid State Basics(Oxford: Oxford University Press).
  47. Kittel, C. (1963) Quantum Theory of Solids (New York: Wiley).
  48. Ellis, G. (2020) “The causal closure of physics in real world contexts” Foundations of Physics 50:1057-1097.
  49. Ellis, G. (2024) “Biological Emergence: a Key Exemplar of the Open Systems View”. Chapter for Open Systems: Physics, Metaphysics, and Methodology Ed SHartmann and M Cuffaro (Oxford: Oxford University Press), to appear.
  50. Ellis, G., and Drossel, B. (2020) “Emergence of time” Foundations of Physics 50:161-190.
  51. Carruthers, P. (2002) “Modularity, language, and the flexibility of thought” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25:705-719.
  52. Sterelny, K. (2006) “Language, modularity and evolution”. Teleosemantics, 23-41.
  53. Miyagawa, S., Berwick, R., and Okanoya, K. (2013) “The emergence of hierarchical structure in human language” Frontiers in psychology 4:71.
  54. Kolb, B., and Whishaw, I. (1998) “Brain plasticity and behavior”. Annual Review of Psychology 49:43-64.
  55. Carpenter, G., and Grossberg, S. (1998) “Adaptive resonance theory”. Boston University Center for Adaptive Systems and Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems: Technical Report CAS/CNS-1998-029.
  56. Grossberg, S. (2013) “Adaptive Resonance Theory: How a brain learns to consciously attend, learn, and recognize a changing world.” Neural networks 37”:1-47.
  57. Kemmerer, D. (2022) Cognitive neuroscience of language (New York: Routledge).
  58. Drossel, B. (2020) “What condensed matter physics and statistical physics teach us about the limits of unitary time evolution” Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations 7:217-231.
  59. Drossel, B. (2017) “Ten reasons why a thermalized system cannot be described by a many-particle wave function”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 58:12-21. (arXiv:1509.0727)
  60. Leggett, A. (1980) “Macroscopic quantum systems and the quantum theory of measurement” Progress of Theoretical Physics Supplement 69:80-100.
  61. Lockwood, M. (1996) “’Many Minds’. Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics” The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47:159-188.
  62. Aspect, A. (2015) “Closing the door on Einstein and Bohr’s quantum debate” Physics 8:123.
  63. Penrose, R. (2007) The road to reality: A complete guide to the laws of the universe. (London: Jonathan Cape).
  64. Ghirardi, G. (2005) Sneaking a Look at God’s Cards: Unraveling the Mysteries of Quantum Mechanics (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
  65. Rovelli, C. (1996) “Relational quantum mechanics” International Journal of Theoretical Physics 35:1637-1678.
  66. Hanson, D (2022). ”The Born-Oppenheimer Approximation”. Chemistry Libretexts. Chemical Education Digital Library. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  67. Ramsey, J. (1997) “Molecular shape, reduction, explanation and approximate concepts” Synthese 111:233-251.
  68. Bishop, R., and Ellis, G. (2020) “Contextual emergence of physical properties” Foundations of Physics, 50:481-510.
  69. Amann, A. (1991) “Chirality: A superselection rule generated by the molecular environment?” J Math Chemistry 6:1-15.
  70. Amann, A (1993) “The gestalt problem in quantum theory: generation of molecular shape by the environment” Synthese 97:125-156.
  71. Ferry, D., Weinbub, J., Nedjalkov, M., and Selberherr, S. (2022) “A review of quantum transport in field-effect transistors” Semiconductor Science and Technology 37:043001.
  72. Davidson, E., and Erwin, D. (2006) “Gene regulatory networks and the evolution of animal body plans” Science 311:796-800.
  73. Davidson, E. (2010) The regulatory genome: gene regulatory networks in development and evolution (Amsterdam: Elsevier).
  74. Olson, E. N. (2006) “Gene regulatory networks in the evolution and development of the heart” Science 313:1922-1927.
  75. Čížek, J. (1966) “On the correlation problem in atomic and molecular systems. Calculation of wavefunction components in Ursell‐type expansion using quantum‐field theoretical methods.” The Journal of Chemical Physics 45:4256-4266.
  76. Eberhard, S., Finazzi, G., and Wollman, F. A. (2008) “The dynamics of photosynthesis” Annual review of genetics 42:463-515.
  77. Gascón, J., Sproviero, E., and Batista, V. (2006) “Computational studies of the primary phototransduction event in visual rhodopsin” Accounts of chemical research 39:184-193.
  78. Harrison, E. (1965) ”Olbers’ paradox and the background radiation density in an isotropic homogeneous universe” Mon Not Roy Ast Soc 131: 1-12.
  79. Ellis, G. (2002) “Cosmology and local physics” New Astronomy Reviews 46:645-657.
  80. The Climate System: EESC 2100 Spring 2007 ”Solar Radiation and the Earth’s Energy Balance”. (Columbia University).
  81. Ellis, G, (2014) “The evolving block universe and the meshing together of times” Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1326:26-41 (arXiv 1407.7243).
  82. Gray, H., and Winkler, J. (2003) “Electron tunneling through proteins” Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics 36:341-372.
  83. Arndt, M., Juffmann, T., and Vedral, V. (2009). “Quantum physics meets biology” HFSP Journal 3:386-400.
  84. Sarhangi, S., and Matyushov, D. (2023) “Electron tunneling in biology: when does it matter?” ACS Omega 8:27355-27365.
  85. Seabaugh, A., and Zhang, Q. (2010) “Low-voltage tunnel transistors for beyond CMOS logic” Proceedings of the IEEE 98:2095-2110.
  86. Tegmark, M. (2000) “Importance of quantum decoherence in brain processes” Physical Review E 61:4194-4206.
  87. Steane, A. (1998) “Quantum computing” Reports on Progress in Physics 61:117-173.
  88. Ostrovsky, V. N. (2003) ”Physical explanation of the periodic table” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 988:182-192.
  89. Pyykko, P. (2012) “The physics behind chemistry and the periodic table” Chemical reviews 112:371-384.
  90. Schwerdtfeger, P., Smits, O., and Pyykkö, P. (2020) “The periodic table and the physics that drives it” Nature Reviews Chemistry 4:359-380.
  91. Campbell, D. T. (1974) “‘Downward causation’in hierarchically organised biological systems” In Ayala, F., and Dobzhansky, T. (eds) Studies in the Philosophy of Biology (London: Palgrave): 179-186.
  92. Zorich, R. (2012) Handbook of Quality Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (New York: Academic Press).
  93. Sharma, A., et al (2023) “Assembly theory explains and quantifies selection and evolution” Nature 622:321-328.
  94. Ellis, G. (2023) “How purposeless physics underlies purposeful life” Nature 04 October 2023
  95. Noble, D. and Ellis, G. (2022) “Biological Relativity Revisited: the Pre-Eminent Role of Values” Theoretical Biology Forum 115:45-70
  96. Carney, M. (2021) Values: An Economist’s Guide to Everything that Matters (London: Harper Collins).

Summary

We haven't generated a summary for this paper yet.

Ai Sparkles Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com Summarize Now
Lightbulb Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com

Continue Learning

We haven't generated follow-up questions for this paper yet.

Ai Sparkles Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com Generate Now

Authors (1)

  1. George F R Ellis
List To Do Tasks Checklist Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com

Collections

Sign up for free to add this paper to one or more collections.

User Circle Single Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com Sign Up
X Twitter Logo Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com

Tweets

This paper has been mentioned in 1 post and received 0 likes.

User Circle Single Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com Sign Up to View

Don't miss out on important new AI/ML research

See which papers are being discussed right now on X, Reddit, and more:

Explore Trending Papers

“Emergent Mind helps me see which AI papers have caught fire online.”

Philip

Philip

Creator, AI Explained on YouTube