How Quantum is Life?

Introduction

Quantum mechanics has long been a cornerstone of modern physics, providing profound insights into the behavior of matter and energy at microscopic scales. The question posed by this contest—“How quantum is life?”—suggests an exciting opportunity to explore whether quantum phenomena play a fundamental role in biological systems and consciousness. Numerous studies have already illuminated quantum effects in biology, including quantum coherence in photosynthesis, molecular vibrations in olfaction, and the sensitivity of photoreceptors to single photons. These findings suggest that quantum mechanics may confer certain advantages in the efficiency, speed, or adaptability of biological processes.

However, a deeper question arises: Are quantum effects the essence of life, or do they merely enhance certain biological functions? While quantum mechanics may help explain aspects of biological processes, it does not necessarily provide the key to understanding consciousness or the continuity of identity that we experience as life—the continuity of conscious existence. Life is, after all and most importantly, the antithesis of death: a process of sustained identity, which is reflected in the famous “quantum suicide” thought experiment. This particular definition of life is employed for this essay because we will see that not only does it link closely into the question of how quantum phenomena in biological processes may be linked to consciousness, but it leads us to intriguing predictions relating to the "nuts and bolts" of quantum systems in biology that you thought for a moment I was going to ignore.

In what follows, I will use the term semantic in a generalized sense: not merely as linguistic meaning, but as the structural coherence between states of consciousness—how memories, perceptions, and interpretations align to form a meaningful self. A semantic continuation, then, is one that preserves internal referential consistency, enabling an observer to interpret their next experience as part of the same identity. This kind of coherence—semantic rather than merely physical—is proposed as the fundamental principle guiding the flow of consciousness through the multiverse.

Many explanations have been put forward to explain quantum phenomena eg the Copenhagen Interpretation, Pilot Wave Theory etc. but the most convincing for me are those based on "many worlds". This is the one on which this essay is based. There is a twist, however, in that I propose that the infinity of "many worlds" is not a collection of ghostly abstract planes of existence but real physical worlds and that the conscious experience and apparent continuity of identity that we call "life" arises within these as a continuous revelation of the particular universe we inhabit rather than a "branching" or "splitting". Furthermore I will propose that this revelation takes place in accordance with mathematical set theory as it applies to infinities and an anthropic selection of those universes capable of sustaining conscious life. The implications of this feed through to the biological quantum phenomena that we observe since these may actually be necessary for life as it has been defined above.

The idea of an observer navigating a multiverse based on continuity of experience may seem speculative — but it resonates with established models. For example, Max Tegmark (Max Tegmark, Our Mathematical Universe, 2014) has proposed a multiverse hierarchy, in which quantum branches (Level III) and all mathematically possible structures (Level IV) coexist. In this context, my proposal can be seen as a refinement: while all such universes may exist, the observer’s trajectory is constrained by semantic coherence — a principle akin to continuity of self, meaning, or identity. This transforms the observer from a passive recipient of probability into an active participant in a structure of informational resonance.

The Anthropic Multiverse

The anthropic principle, as it applies to the multiverse, appears widely in both scientific and philosophical literature. Major figures such as Andrei Linde, Leonard Susskind, Martin Rees, and Paul Davies have discussed anthropic reasoning within multiverse frameworks. The phrase “Anthropic Multiverse” itself appears in a speculative work titled The Holographic Anthropic Multiverse (HAM), a 2009 monograph by Richard L. Amoroso and Elizabeth A. Rauscher, which proposes a formal cosmological model using that term. The notion that quantum behavior - particularly in the form of quantum computation - is necessary to fully simulate the world has also been proposed by David Deutsch, a proponent of the Many-Worlds interpretation.

I propose to go further. I suggest that a framework of quantum mechanical laws is almost certainly required in any universe capable of giving rise to conscious life, because only such laws are semantically coherent enough to support the emergence and continuity of observers. This requirement must apply to biological life, since that is what we know - but I argue it should also apply to any other form of conscious life, regardless of its physical substrate.

As to what these multiverse universes actually are, there are many plausible candidates for what might constitute real physical worlds.

Examples may include some or all of the following:

Temporal separation, such as in the cyclical conformal cosmology proposed by Roger Penrose, in which there can be an infinite sequence of “big bangs” arising from the resetting of space and time following cosmological heat deaths;

“Baryonic deserts”—vast, expanding regions in which ordinary matter becomes so diffuse that spatial and temporal coordinates lose operational meaning. In such domains, the absence of baryonic content may dissolve the framework needed to define distances, durations, or causality, effectively erasing internal semantics. A quantum fluctuation or region of residual energy within such a desert—when viewed under a redefined internal scale—might appear confined enough to function as a new big bang. Though embedded within an expanded prior universe, the causal and informational closure of such a region allows it to constitute a semantically distinct reality;

And, assuming a continuous non-quantum nature of space and time, perhaps even infinitesimally small or brief mini-universes that may exist within larger universes, provided they are without any causal or informational link to their surroundings.

Physical constants, too, may be treated not as inter-universal absolutes but as internal semantic roles. The speed of light in a given universe is not meaningful because of its numerical value in meters per second compared to some other universe, but because of the structural role it plays in defining causal relationships, signal propagation, and the temporal order of events within that universe. Thus, two universes may each contain a constant called “c,” yet it is defined by its internal function within each universe’s semantic structure—such that they could be meaningfully the same, despite being physically unrelatable.

The ramifications of this view for the biological systems of life will be addressed later. For now, the moment has come to explore the nature of conscious life and identity within this framework.

Infinity and Consciousness

Imagine that a "you" exists—not just once, not uniquely—but in an untold number of universes, each indistinguishable to you, each containing a version of you with the same physical makeup, memories, thoughts, and sensations. In some of these universes, the next moment unfolds in one way; in others, it diverges. What determines where you "go" next? What defines your identity—your continuity of experience—in a cosmos where identical observer-moments may be instantiated in countless locations?

I propose that the answers lie not in physics alone, nor in metaphysics, but in the semantic structure of experience itself—that is, the internal logic and coherence of conscious moments: the way memories, perceptions, and interpretations interrelate to produce meaningful self-continuity. It is this structure, rather than physical laws alone, that determines which observer-moments form valid paths through a multiverse of possibilities—and which types of universe, governed by which laws, may compose the anthropic multiverse.

This perspective offers a reinterpretation of quantum phenomena—not as evidence of ghostly superpositions or many abstract worlds, but as reflections of self-location within a real ensemble of causally disconnected outcomes.

In this framework, consciousness does not collapse a wavefunction, nor does it cause branching. Rather, it localizes—revealing one’s placement within a structured, non-repeating multiverse of coherent experiential trajectories. Each universe may have its size, time, and physical constants defined not by external absolutes, but by its internal coherence: its capacity to support meaning, memory, and observation.

Now suppose that at a given moment, an observer exists within a semantic structure encoding a meaningful state of awareness. This moment lies within a larger space of possible continuations: distinct, semantically compatible configurations that could represent coherent next experiences. The central hypothesis is that consciousness flows probabilistically, weighted by the relative semantic density of these future moments.

For finite sets, this is intuitive: the more continuations there are, the more likely the transition. But when the space of possible observer-moments is infinite, set-theoretic ideas become relevant. In mathematics, not all infinities are equal: the set of natural numbers is countably infinite (ℵ₀), while the set of real numbers is uncountably infinite (ℵ₁ or higher, depending on the model). Could such distinctions influence how consciousness “chooses” its next location?

Here, I suggest that transitions between observer-moments might be influenced by the cardinality of compatible futures. If a particular semantic continuation belongs to a larger ensemble of valid futures—even across infinite sets—it may be subjectively more probable. The observer is statistically more likely to “find themselves” in the more populous regions of the semantic multiverse.

In addition to cardinality, semantic compressibility—akin to Kolmogorov complexity—may also play a role. More meaning-rich or highly structured continuations could dominate conscious experience due to their greater informational economy.

Thus, the flow of consciousness is not only a semantic trajectory, but a measure-theoretic path through a landscape of structured infinities. Identity emerges not from metaphysical continuity, but from occupying the most probable semantic continuations.

What Does This Mean for the Biological Quantum Systems of Life?

Does it imply immortality, or the prolongation of life when the odds are against us—such as is explored in the quantum suicide thought experiment?

While superficially compatible with a multiverse view, this idea is too simplistic within the semantic framework. Here, continuity is not guaranteed by logical possibility alone, but by the semantic density of viable successor states. As survival becomes less probable, the number of structurally valid continuations that support referential coherence diminishes. While it may be true that some branches contain surviving observer-moments, their relative scarcity means they contribute vanishingly little to the measure of consciousness. There is no assurance of subjective immortality—only a probabilistic filtering through increasingly rare viable paths. Eventually, identity dissipates not because survival is impossible, but because the structure that supports meaningful continuity has evaporated. On the other hand, can we derive any useful or testable predictions from this proposal?

Fred Hoyle famously predicted the existence of a specific excited energy level of carbon-12 (the “Hoyle state”) necessary for the triple-alpha process in stars to produce carbon—an essential element for life. He reasoned anthropically: since we exist and require carbon, the universe must allow for efficient carbon formation. He predicted a resonance level before it was observed, and it turned out to be correct.

In a similar spirit, one prediction we can make (if you're still with me) is that biological systems will tend to exploit quantum effects wherever they enhance semantic continuity — even in domains not yet fully explored. For example I propose that receptor–ligand interactions throughout the body may depend not only on molecular shape (as per the traditional lock-and-key model), but also on the vibrational resonance between the ligand and the receptor’s active site.

This suggests that isotopic substitution — which alters the vibrational frequencies of chemical bonds without changing molecular geometry — could significantly affect receptor activation. While this mechanism has been proposed in the context of olfaction, I suggest it may operate broadly across biological signalling systems. If this model is correct, we should find quantum vibrational tuning in ligand–receptor interactions elsewhere in biology, not just in olfaction — where such effects have already been proposed (Turin, L. (1996). A spectroscopic mechanism for primary olfactory reception. Chemical Senses, 21(6), 773–791; Brookes, J.C., Hartoutsiou, F., Horsfield, A.P., & Stoneham, A.M. (2007**). Could humans recognize odor by phonon assisted tunneling? Physical Review Letters, 98(3), 038101**) — and perhaps even in enzymatic tunneling (Klinman, J.P. (2006). Linking protein dynamics to catalysis: The role of hydrogen tunneling. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1472), 1323–1331). This opens up a promising avenue for drug and other bioactive chemical design: by tuning the quantum vibrational modes of ligand molecules through isotopic modification, it may be possible to control efficacy and selectivity in a way not captured by conventional pharmacology. A UK patent application has been filed to protect this hypothesis and its potential applications in quantum biochemistry.

Using similar arguments if consciousness emerges by navigating semantically coherent universes, then biological systems that support conscious experience will be found to employ quantum effects - especially in processes that preserve memory, perception, or identity continuity - and a number of other testable predictions may be made:

Quantum Effects in Long-Term Memory Formation

While some proposals already speculate about quantum coherence in microtubules, our model predicts something more general:

Wherever semantic continuity is preserved in the brain, quantum-like efficiencies should emerge.

Test: Look for non-classical correlations in memory encoding or recall that exceed classical thermodynamic efficiency bounds, suggesting enhanced stability or entanglement-like structures in neural substrates.

Quantum Coherence in Cellular Signaling

We predict the discovery of coherence-preserving quantum phenomena in complex, warm, wet cellular environments—particularly in neurological processes or glia-neuron interactions—that are not predicted by classical neurobiology. These phenomena would serve to preserve temporal or referential consistency, enhancing semantic continuity under noisy conditions.

Quantum Sensitivity in Decision-Making Mechanisms

If semantic self-location influences probabilistic outcomes, then we might expect quantum-level fluctuations to play a role in decision pathways. These fluctuations may occasionally “amplify” results that are consistent with the agent’s semantic trajectory more often than chance would suggest.

Prediction: Low-level quantum noise could bias decision outcomes toward meaningful continuity, measurable as statistically anomalous decision patterns in threshold or chaotic choice regimes.

Vibrational Tuning of Ligand–Receptor Binding

Prediction: Receptor activation across biological systems may be sensitive not only to molecular shape but also to the vibrational modes of ligand bonds. Isotopic substitution (e.g., replacing hydrogen with deuterium) changes these vibrational frequencies without altering the molecular structure. This could modulate binding affinity or functional response via quantum vibrational resonance. The hypothesis predicts that certain isotopically modified neurotransmitters, hormones, or drug compounds will show altered physiological activity despite structural similarity — offering a testable signature of quantum effects in biochemistry.

As an example deuterated analogues of serotonin or dopamine could be created and their vibrational modes checked for differences with infrared spectroscopy, which could then be utilised in double-blind studies in the normal way to compare physiological or neurological outcomes.

Prediction of Constrained Decoherence

In systems relevant to semantic continuity—such as perceptual stability, temporal binding, or narrative selfhood—the environment may fail to fully decohere entangled states.

This implies a fundamental delay or modulation of decoherence, acting as a quantum signature uniquely preserved in the service of continuity.

Test: Look for sub-threshold coherence preservation in sensory integration regions or during moments of perceptual “freeze” or narrative restructuring.

Artificial Systems Approaching Semantic Identity

If an artificial system ever reaches the point of sustaining internally consistent semantic observer-moments—e.g., with self-referential memory, expectation, and identity continuity—our framework suggests it may begin to exhibit emergent quantum-like behaviors, even in classical computational substrates.

Prediction: Systems exhibiting true semantic self-continuity may display unexpected resilience, decision bifurcation patterns, or even coherence-like effects without requiring physical quantum architecture.

Conclusion

I have proposed—and shown how—a framework in which identity, quantum measurement, and physical constants may be unified under the principle of semantic continuity. This principle emerges naturally within an anthropic multiverse, where only those universes capable of supporting referentially coherent observer-moments are ever experienced.

The reality of life for us is not what exists in a detached physical sense, but what can be meaningfully experienced. And consciousness is not merely an observer of the universe—it is the path itself, threading through a structured ensemble of realities. The proposed quantum vibrational hypothesis illustrates how such a semantic multiverse view can generate both philosophical insight and experimentally actionable predictions.

Ultimately, the multiverse described here is not a metaphor or a mathematical abstraction, but a physically real ensemble of causally disconnected, semantically coherent universes. Each exists in its own right—yet only those that support consistent, meaningful trajectories of experience give rise to the phenomenon we call consciousness. In flowing through this ensemble, consciousness does more than witness the universe—it reveals a hidden structure of what it means to be real.

So: do biological systems employ quantum advantages? Undoubtedly with many examples presented and probably to a much greater extent than currently recognised; does a complete description of biological systems require quantum mechanics? not only have we shown that this is necessary but argued that quantum mechanics may require conscious life, currently only known to be biological; how quantum is life? Within a certain perspective of the origins of quantumness, very—immensely—across an infinite multiverse. And if life is what gives rise to quantum phenomena through the filtering of semantically coherent paths, then the question is not just "how quantum is life" but "how could it not be?"

References:

• Turin, L. (1996). A spectroscopic mechanism for primary olfactory reception. Chemical Senses, 21(6), 773–791.

• Brookes, J.C., Hartoutsiou, F., Horsfield, A.P., & Stoneham, A.M. (2007). Could humans recognize odor by phonon assisted tunneling? Physical Review Letters, 98(3), 038101.

• Klinman, J.P. (2006). Linking protein dynamics to catalysis: The role of hydrogen tunneling. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1472), 1323–1331.