[charles2013]

> So far scientists haven't found anything special about the human brain that can't be mimicked by a machine.

mimicking the brain's power-consumption-to-compute-power ratio is difficult, if not impossible, with today's technology.

an aside: since reading an article about the potential role of quantum mechanics in photosynthesis, i've wondered, as a lay person, whether quantum mechanics play a role in human cognition.

[ctchocula]

Theoretical physicist Roger Penrose is a proponent of this view, but theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson presents a rebuttal of his points [1]. Another article claims that the distance between synapses is two orders of magnitude too big for quantum mechanical effects to be effective, which seems like a plausible rebuttal to me [2].

[1] http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/lec10.5.html [2] http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/is_the_brain_a_quantum_device

[tim333]

There's regular quantum mechanics which underlies all chemistry and that you can use to calculate molecular properties and then the woo woo kind which Penrose seems to propose as behind consciousness on the basis that both are a bit mysterious so maybe one causes the other.

[stefs]

neal stephensons anathem is a novel addressing this (among other things): practically, is the brain at least partially a quantum computer.