The causal consciousness: presynaptic beta-neurexin promotes neuromediator release via vibrational multidimensional tunneling
arXiv Preprint Archive October 13, 2002 Danko Dimchev Georgiev
Consciousness must have evolved through natural selection, making epiphenomenalism (the view that consciousness is a causally inert byproduct) untenable. The paper proposes a specific molecular mechanism by which quantum effects could influence neurotransmitter release. In this model, the brain's microtubule network generates quantum-coherent solitons that tune beta-neurexin molecules. These molecules' thermal vibrations can then promote or suppress conformational changes through vibrational multidimensional tunneling, which drives the detachment of the calcium sensor synaptotagmin-1 from the SNARE complex. This detachment triggers membrane fusion and neurotransmitter release into the synaptic cleft, allowing quantum information transfer to causally affect neural signaling.