Thought Provoker
Posts: 530
Joined: April 2007
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The abstract of Speculation on Quantum Mechanics and the Operation of Life Giving Catalysts | Quote | The origin of life necessitated the formation of catalytic functionalities in order to realize a number of those capable of supporting reactions that led to the proliferation of biologically accessible molecules and the formation of a proto-metabolic network. Here, the discussion of the significance of quantum behavior on biological systems is extended from recent hypotheses exploring brain function and DNA mutation to include origins of life considerations in light of the concept of quantum decoherence and the transition from the quantum to the classical. Current understandings of quantum systems indicate that in the context of catalysis, substrate-catalyst interaction may be considered as a quantum measurement problem. Exploration of catalytic functionality necessary for life’s emergence may have been accommodated by quantum searches within metal sulfide compartments, where catalyst and substrate wave function interaction may allow for quantum based searches of catalytic phase space. Considering the degree of entanglement experienced by catalytic and non catalytic outcomes of superimposed states, quantum contributions are postulated to have played an important role in the operation of efficient catalysts that would provide for the kinetic basis for the emergence of life.
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Magnetism, FeS colloids, and Origins of Life is freely available on-line. It includes... | Quote | Today, clear signatures of quantum processing in biology are coming in ((Engel et al. 2007), aided by femtosecond laser-based 2D spectroscopy and coherent control approaches, showing how phase relationships in nano-structures modulate the course of bio-reactions (Nagya et al 2006). As to decoherence evading mechanisms, the role of a gel-state; quasicrystalline order; (Jibu et al 1994; Hagan et al. 2002); are amongst proposed order maintaining mechanisms in a wet environment, while 'screening effect', or 'cocooning' structural mechanisms are seen as providing insulation against interactions with the environment [Patel (2001); Davies (2003, 2004)] (see also Sect. 3.9). Indeed, it seems that Nature has quietly been using these strategies all along, i.e. leading to creation of biological language itself, as the Grover-Patel search numbers match those used by Nature! Using Grover's quantum search method for a marked item in an unsorted database, Patel (2001) hit upon the base-pairing logic of nucleic acids in transcription and translation as an excellent quantum search algorithm { a directed walk through a superposition of all possibilities - resulting in a 2-fold increase in sampling efficacy over its classical counterpart (which at best permits a random walk).
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This possibility seems intriguing in the light of Patel's findings, where quantum searches seem to be responsible for the creation of biological language itself. Moreover, Russell et al have argued that life's hatchery could have been busy by 3.8 Gyr, evolving fast enough for a branch to have reached the ocean surfaces by 3.5 Gyr, as evidenced by photosynthetic signatures. The gestation period of life had to have been less than the umbilical mound's delivery of the formative hydrothermal solution, i.e., certainly less than 3 million years, and probably less than 30,000 years (Fruh-Green et al. 2003). Indeed, a magnetic start to Life could provide the ingredients for an intelligent Ancestor, along the lines envisaged by Lloyd (2006) for a computing universe. Again, it seems to be a physically feasible embodiment (Mitra-Delmotte and Mitra 2007; 2009) of Paul Davies's Q-Life proposal (2008), as also acknowledged by him in Merali (2007). A magnetic basis of assembly could also offer robustness to an `open' system against interference from a decohering environment. On the other hand, as evidence of quantum processing effects in biology trickles in, it appears that Nature is equipped for tackling environmental intrusion.
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I linked to this paper over at Telic Thoughts but I doubt anyone is going to run with it as a Pro-ID argument.
Let me know if you are tired of arguing with JoeG and others like him and I will post a thread and try to defend the concepts offered by this paper.
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