That’s its effect; is it also its cause?
We say that our human minds are “consciously self-aware”. But there has long been debate about the exact nature of consciousness. Some people, like myself, believe that what we call consciousness is just the functioning of the intricate networks of cells that make up what we call our nervous systems, including our brains. Others believe that our consciousness lies ultimately outside our brains in some metaphysical or spiritual realm and is only “mediated” by our brains in a manner roughly analogous to a radio or television receiver.
Within the brain itself, nerve cells are reported to have tiny structures called “micro-tubules”, which some thinkers, particularly the mathematician Roger Penrose, believe give rise to consciousness by way of effects of quantum physics. That idea provides a basis for further speculation about simultaneous conscious effects between brains, regardless of distance, based on quantum-state entanglements and their collapse.
I see no reason to think that our experience of consciousness depends on micro-tubules in our brains. I am convinced from years of cognitive modeling with computer programs that conscious self-awareness can be explained in terms of the complexity of the networks of cells in our nervous systems, rather than in a more mysterious quantum…
