As always, AIDL admin routinely look at whether certain post should stay to our forum. Our criterion has 3 pillars: relevancy, non-commercial and accurate. (Q13 of AIDL FAQ)
This time I look at “The Post-Quantum Mechanics of Conscious Artificial Intelligence“, the video was brought up by an AIDL member, and he recommend we started from the 40 mins mark.
So I listened through the video as recommended.
Indeed, the post is non-commercial for sure. And yes, it mentioned AGI from Roger Penrose. So it is relevant to AIDL. But is it accurate though? I’m afraid my lack of physics education background trip me. And I would judge that “I cannot decide” on the topic. Occasionally new science comes in a form no one understand yet. So calling something inaccurate without knowing is not appropriate.
As a result this post stays. But please keep on reading.
Saying so, I don’t mind to give a *strong* response to the video. Due to the following 3 reasons:
1, According to Wikipedia, most of Dr. Jack Sarfatti’s theory and work are not *peer-reviewed*. He has left academia from 1975. Most of his work is speculative. And most of them are self-published(!). There’s no experimental proof on what he said. He was asked several times about his thought in the video. He just said “You will know that it’s real”. That’s a sign that he doesn’t really evidence.
2, Then there is the idea of “Post-Quantum Mechanics”. What is it? The information we can get is really scanty. Since I can only find a group which seems to dedicate to such study, as in here. Since I can’t quite decide if the study is valid. I would say “I can’t judge.” But I also couldn’t find any other group which actively support such theory. So may be we should call the theory at best “an interesting hypothesis”. And Sarfatti build his argument on the existence on “Post Quantum Computer”. What is it? Again I cannot quite find the answer on-line.
Also you should be aware that current quantum computer have limited capability. D-Wave quantum computing is based on quantum annealing, with many disputed whether it is true quantume computing. In any case, both “conventional” quantum computing and quantum annealing has nothing to do with Post-Quantum Computer. That again you should feel very suspicious.
3a, Can all these interesting theory be the mechanism of the brain or AGI? So in the video, Sarfatti mentioned brain/AGI for four times. His point are two, I would counter them right after, first is that if you believe in Penrose’s theory that neurons is related to quantum entanglement, then his own theory-based on post quantum mechanics would be huge. But then once you listen to serious computational neuroscientists, they would be very cautious on whether quantum theory as the basis of neuronal exchange of information. There are many experimental evidence that neurons operate by electrical signal or chemical signal. But they are in a much bigger scale than quantum mechanics. So why would Penrose suggested that have make many learned people scratch their heads.
3b, Then there is the part about Turing machine. Sarfatti believes that because “post-quantum Computer” is so powerful so it must be the mechanism being used by the brain. So what’s wrong with such arguments? So first thing: no one knows what “post quantum-computer”, that I just mentioned in point 2. But then even if it is powerful, that doesn’t mean the brain has to follow such mechanism. Same can be said with our current quantum computing technologies.
Finally, Sarfatti himself believes that it is a “leap of faith” to believe the consciousness is wave. I admire his compassion on speculating the world of science/human intelligence. Yet I also learn by reading Gardner’s “Fads and Fallacies” that many pseudoscientists have charismatic personality.
So Members, Caveat Emptor.
Arthur