Here are some excerpts I liked from BrainMans reference:
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/views/freewill.html...
bacteria do have 'protein-based circuits'
Finally, Spier and Thomas ask what it is in Orch OR that 'does the work of the mind' As in other theories, the answer is mainly glucose and oxygen.
We discard nothing from conventional theories except the assumption that consciousness emerges completely from membrane-level computational complexity.
Proteins are dynamic–their state a delicate balance between various countervailing forces. However, strong forces cancel out so that dynamic protein conformation and function are determined by weak quantum-level dipole interactions called London (van der Waals) forces9.
the Orch OR model predicts a lower limit for consciousness at the level of about 300 neurons (e.g. small worms and urchins). A single-celled paramecium, while clever, seems unlikely to sustain sufficient quantum coherence to reach threshold for OR reduction (up to one minute would be required), and is thus unlikely to attain conscious experience11. One may question even rudimentary consciousness in small worms ("What is it like to be a worm?") but, unlike any other theory, Orch OR is at least able to make such a prediction.
Reply to Hameroff from Emmet Spier and Adrian Thomas
We thank Stuart Hameroff for detailing the intellectual history of the Orch OR model. However, re-rooting its foundations in a form of monism begs more questions than it answers. Even ignoring the problematic conclusion that
' then 'all forms of matter (rocks, air, grass, protozoa, etc.) have minds, we still find it hard to understand how his mind-component of matter influences the substance component of matter.
machinery must exist for these bits to be fetched, processed and re-stored. This is the job of the central processing unit (CPU) and is wholly ignored in models of the brain as a computer.
Hameroff agrees with Bray’s conclusions that protein molecules are the basic operational elements in living cells,
chemistry is sufficient to explain the complex behaviour of single-celled organisms such as E. coli. Furthermore, mutations that alter the chemistry of E. coli’s proteins change its behaviour in ways that are predictable from the effect of the mutations on protein chemistry. Conventional chemical mechanisms can explain how single cells process such information
(
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/views/freewill.html)
I especially like how well we have learned to predict the effect of chemistry on the behavior of bacteria. This is really useful for a discussion of the most basic form of consciousness.
I think the CPU is not a separate thing in the Human mind because all neurons use overlapping energy fields to communicate with all other neurons simultaneously.
I think that is how we have a subconscious and Intuition, because all of our memories act together, but our conscious mind can only consider memories one at a time. The conscious mind is like the CPU, but it is not required for most of our brains automatic functions.
They said it was hard to understand how the mind component influences matter, well, that is easy when you consider Energy as a general term which can refer to Momentum of a Pressure wave of Matter (sound), or to a Pressure wave of Electrical Charge, or to the Kinetic Energy of a mass resting on a surface.
Thoughts are just waves of energy, and so are particles which make atoms. That is proven by matter/anti-matter annihilation.