Quantum Consciousness: Are Microtubules the Mind’s True Engine? – Mike Weist | 12

What if consciousness isn’t just neurons firing—but quantum vibrations inside microtubules, organized by nature’s own optimization rule?

In this episode, we sit down with Mike Weist, neuroscientist and experimentalist, to explore a bold synthesis: microtubules as the physical substrate of consciousness, room-temperature quantum effects in living tissue, and how active inference might actually require quantum implementations. From anesthetics and the Meyer–Overton law, to MRI hints of macroscopic entanglement, to least action and discrete “frames” of perception, this conversation reframes the mind–brain problem.

We explore:
🔹 Why volatile anesthetics point beyond ion channels—toward tubulin/microtubules
🔹 Room-temperature superradiance and why quantum effects can strengthen with scale
🔹 Evidence and mechanisms for microtubule–membrane coupling (and cross-neuron coherence)
🔹 Binding problem → why classical models risk epiphenomenalism
🔹 Objective reduction (Orch-OR), discrete perceptual cycles, and memory capacity (Grover + nets)
🔹 Active Inference vs. classical neurons: why computation may need quantum substrates

💡 One of the most integrative talks at the edge of neuroscience, quantum biology, and computational mind theory.

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Chapters
0:00 Mind–nature symmetry & intro to Mike Weist
3:42 Is quantum consciousness going mainstream? Resistance & experiments
8:25 Microtubules 101 and the core hypothesis
14:15 Meyer–Overton: anesthetics beyond ion channels
19:50 Rat study: brain-penetrant taxane (EPOB) delays isoflurane LORR
23:18 Classical vs quantum pathways; tadpole microtubule anesthesia
32:23 Binding problem & the epiphenomenalism trap
35:50 Objective reduction and macroscopic coherence requirements
36:47 Microtubule resonances coupling with membrane voltage
39:04 Time-crystal–like hierarchies; scale-free dynamics
43:54 Room-temperature superradiance in tubulin assemblies
44:47 Sketching a “quantum optical computer” in neurons
47:44 MRI hints of macroscopic entanglement in the living brain
49:40 Community uptake, controversies, and Orch-OR misconceptions
54:46 Free Energy Principle, LLM analogies, and quantum cognition
1:01:02 Least action & path integrals as the brain’s dynamical logic
1:07:52 Can classical neurons implement active inference?
1:10:34 Discrete frames: masking, flash-lag, and gamma bursts
1:17:47 Quantum memory capacity (Grover + neural nets)
1:20:19 Final takeaways: active inference via Orch-OR

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