Artificial Intelligence Will Never Achieve Consciousness With Silicon Chips
The human brain is generally thought of as a biological computer, and many have speculated that there might be a critical mass of complexity and computational ability that would allow artificial intelligence based in silicon chips to become conscious. But some recent studies suggest that what allows consciousness in our brains is a set of quantum states created by the vibration of very thin (1% the diameter of a human hair) crystal-like microtubules in our cells. While gravity dissipates the quantum states in a very brief fraction of a second, our brains contain trillions of these microtubules and when aligned in a lattice at high volume the cumulative effect may be consciousness.
Several geniuses like Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose have believed for decades that this is crucial to the formation of consciousness, and the theory has only gained more support as time goes on and recent studies support the idea. (“Study Supports Quantum Basis of Consciousness in the Brain.”) “The "Orch OR" theory proposes that consciousness arises from quantum computations occurring within microtubules inside brain neurons, where "Orch" stands for "orchestrated" and "OR" refers to "objective reduction," a quantum process theorized by Roger Penrose that could potentially explain the collapse of a quantum wave function and the emergence of conscious experience.”
Now the technology exists to start testing his hypothesis. Recent studies show that Alzheimers results from unwanted proteins bonding to the surfaces of these microtubules and altering their vibrations (so the hippies and new agers and Nikola Tesla may be right that your level of consciousness is all about your vibration frequency....) In addition, scientists have only recently been able to prove that various anesthesias (*which remove consciousness*) also measurably affect these microtubules and alter their vibration and the frequencies of light they put out when they fluoresce.
If consciousness comes from quantum fluctuations in neurons, artificial intelligence based on standard silicon chip technology will never be self-aware and conscious. We can program it so well that we can’t tell the difference - but for the real deal, we may have to engineer biological computers.
Anton Petrov has a "wonderful" video on this if you're interested in more details: