Some thoughts about quantum computing and cognition

When the first experimental psychology labs were established in the late 1800s, the experimental pioneers were interested in creating a science to understand the human condition. To that end, psychology was born to the proud mother of knowledge: philosophy and a stern but giving father: physics. As a cognitive psychology researcher, I understand the need for a combination of easy-breasy curiosity and intensly practiced methodology.

I was at Revolution last night and got into a conversation about the manner in which information could be stored on a single electron (i.e. a 1 or a 0 in binary) and how if you put one of these bits on each of the valence electrons of an atom that would give you 8 bits of information...or a byte. It's gotten me to thinking about the limiting factor in creating a human mind machine is not necessarily in the lack of resources we have but rather how we use said resources to store data more efficiently.

It's an interesting tangent, and right now it's kinda blowing my mind. If you think about atoms in terms of bytes of information...as data storage, then you can start to see how the electrochemical transfer of information between neurons brings with it a spectacular amount of information, and invariably, how this electrochemical transfer of information (a nativist part of the animal kingdom) could be influenced by the introduction of new chemicals (with a whole different set of atoms, different set of valence electrons, etc.) could alter the information bouncing around in the brain and between neurons throughout the body. Rarely have I brought myself to scale my thought process down this far. Let me tell you, it is just as fun to explore the inner spaces as it is to explore the outer spaces.

I know it sounds like I'm tripping or something, but I am writing this with a completely alert and sober state of mind. Sorry if this is boring to anyone, but you know it really shouldn't be. I mean, this is your brain! This is the part of your body that makes decisions about everything from what to eat to which candidate you should vote for in an election. It's amazing to me to think the whole of animal existance on this planet, and as far as we know, any other planet, could be summed up in a richly-complex interaction of electrons.