Quantum Biology and the Puzzle of Coherence

[caraher]

22. Well, I think there's more to the "observer" unless you're effectively redefining the term

Usually I'd put it the other way around: the observer *always* has an effect, but the observer need not be conscious. I do agree there's a bit of a muddle brought on by the use of that word, but it's been with us since the time of Bohr and friends and it's probably too late to come up with a new convention.

Pretty much by definition there's a qualitative difference between the classical and quantum worlds, but really nailing down exactly how the classical world emerges from the laws of quantum theory is surprisingly challenging. I'm most intrigued by the work of Zurek, who does exactly the kinds of calculations mentioned in the OP that imply very fast decoherence times that seem to preclude the roles claimed for quantum coherence in most biological systems.