#13 - Microtubules are Biological Computers: searching for the mind of a cell

In episode 13 of the Quantum Consciousness series, Justin Riddle discusses how microtubules are the most likely candidate to be a universal quantum computer that acts as a single executive unit in cells. First off, computer scientists are trying to model human behavior using neural networks that treat individual neurons as the base unit. But unicellular organisms are able to do many of the things that we consider to be human behavior! How does a single-cell lifeform perform this complex behavior? As Stuart Hameroff puts it, “neuron doctrine is an insult to neurons,” referring to the complexity of a single cell. Let’s look inside a cell, what makes it tick? Many think the DNA holds some secret code or algorithm that is executing the decision-making process of the cell. However, the microscope reveals a different story where the microtubules are performing a vast array of complex behaviors: swimming towards food, away from predators, coordinating protein delivery and creation within the cell. This begs the question: how do microtubules work? Well, they are single proteins organized into helical cylinders. What is going on here? Typically, we think of a protein’s function as being determined by its structure but the function of a single protein repeated into tubes is tough to unravel. Stuart Hameroff proposed that perhaps these tubulin proteins are acting as bits of information and the whole tube is working as a universal computer that can be programmed to fit any situation. Given the limitations of digital computation, Roger Penrose was looking for a quantum computer in biology and Stuart Hameroff was looking for more than a digital computation explanation. Hence, the Hameroff-Penrose model of microtubules as quantum computers was born. If microtubules are quantum computers, then each cell would possess a central executive hub for rapidly integrating information from across the cell and to turn that information into a single action plan that could be quickly disseminated. Furthermore, the computation would get a “quantum” speed-up in that exponentially large search spaces could be tackled in a reasonable timeframe. If microtubules are indeed quantum computers, then modern science has greatly underestimated the processing power of a single cell, let alone the entire human brain.
~~~ Timestamps ~~~
0:00 Introduction
3:08 “Neuron doctrine is an insult to neurons”
8:23 DNA vs Microtubules
14:20 Diffusion vs Central Hub
17:50 Microtubules as Universal Computers
23:40 Penrose’s Quantum Computation update
29:48 Quantum search in a cell
33:25 Stable microtubules in neurons
35:18 Finding the self in biology
#quantum
#consciousness
#microtubules
Website: www.justinriddlepodcast.com
Email: [e-mail]
Twitter: @JRiddlePodcast
Music licensed from and created by Baylor Odabashian. BandCamp: @UnscrewablePooch
Painting behind me by Paul Seli. IG: @Paul.Seli.art

[@RSEFX]

GREAT to hear Hameroff and Penrose brought into your discussions.

[@gdok6088]

Stuart Hameroff is actually an anaesthesiologist (a medical doctor) not a biologist. His interest in microtubules partially arose from his desire to understand how anaesthetic agents actually work (for a long time an enigma) and how they render patients temporarily unconscious.

[@AwareLife]

Thanks for this, Justin, you have a great explanatory style... ORCH OR is the way to go. Didn't know how widespread in biologiclaasysteme they are. Very significant. Subbed.

[@averayugen7802]

You are the minestrone soup of adult education and that stuff was the best! Always wanted more grown up stuff on basic cell biology high school style. Now I understand the concept of "using" DNA and the meaning of the "brain" of the cell microtubules are digital computational devices, add or subtract some protein here/there u have UNIVERSAL digital computers and finally quantum computers, central single decision unit in each cell good gawd that's a giant leap gift learning that thank you!!!

[@periurban]

So nice to see someone other than Roger or Stuart giving this some attention. I like the Orch-OR theory because it's the best testable theory of consciousness that we have. It can be falsified, which is a good start!

[@bulletproofkarma]

Microtubules are antennas, your consciousness is not in your brain, a better analogy would be you're a radio receiving signals. In any case we aren't sure what exactly their entire purpose is.

[@KT-en8pq]

Exactly.

[@mnrvaprjct]

@@KT-en8pqthis isn’t how it works. Even hameroff thinks they’re just room temp quant. computers.

[@MatthewFortmeyer-rr9tv]

Are you sure it's the microtubules, and not the D.N.A.? or, the interaction of both?

[@nrrgrdn]

Thank you for all your videos condensing what I've read and thought over the years. Also banger outro. I turn up the volume every time.

[@dr.jenskuhnemann3411]

just half way through but to me this is by far the best episode I watched on your channel. super interesting, thanks a lot.

[@joyboy-zx]

Thanks man, this explains a lot of my questions. I agree, and DNA is currently used by companies for storage, but not for computation. And regarding the wave functions being the sense of 'self', it also makes sense. When you get into a relationship and communicate with someone often, you start agreeing and thinking similarly, maybe bcs your quantum brainwaves synchronize.

[@tyfooods]

Really good video o.o Super underrated

[@MengsenZhang]

Though microtubules are my most favorite thing from cell bio, I found this difficult to buy, depending on what exactly are we trying to explain. Are we talking about the conscious experience (in flux)? sense of self (stable)? complex or adaptive behavior (which does not require conscious experience nor sense of self)? is adaptive behavior of a cell equivalent to the conscious experience of humans? Or is the point that microtubules have all the attributes at all scales (not aware of solid empirical evidence)? Overall, I remember the contribution of microtubules to intercellular communication is so much slower than what's required for efficient computation. Anyhow, great episode!! Happy to chat more!!!

[@JustinRiddle]

Hey Mengsen, great questions! The next episode in the series will address some of these questions and provide more details on the Hameroff-Penrose proposal. The focus of this episode is not so much on conscious experience per se or on human experience directly. The next episode discusses how molecular scale superpositions can be scaled up to the cellular level but even then does not get into the association with human level cognition. Here, the argument is that cellular coordination requires an anchor point. With a quantum computer instantiated in microtubules, there can be a central hub that creates a single functional unit and provides information sharing speeds that are fast enough to integrate information across the vastness of intercellular space. Otherwise, you must posit some sort of diffusion process and a complex network of protein pathways. Perhaps you would agree that that is the only alternative proposed by classical biology. Finally, the intracellular communication you are referring to is likely kinesin, a protein that walks along the microtubules and transports proteins around. This is a very slow process to be sure. The communication alluded to in this episode that is faster requires quantum coherence, if even briefly sustained, and certainly surpasses the classical means. Loving your enthusiasm!!! Justin

[@gendashwhy]

Did Michael Jackson discover anything while exploring the Quantum properties of Propofol? So many questions... :) Go Go Justin!

[@gehtdichnixan4704]

The main point of this theory is that it - for once - proposes definitions of terms like “conscious experience“ and “sense of self“. And as if that wasn't enough, OrchOR actually allows you to measure those effects: how many quantums are involved in the superposition, how long does the superposition last, how much of which mechanism is disabled by a certain dose of anesthesia, and so on.

[@johnnyvee3339]

I wonder if microtubules could have predated RNA/DNA in relation to the origin of life? (a very simple early form of some sort) That it was an autonomous entity at some stage that later became part of the overall cell symbiosis in some way. Just an idea!

[@roelwijgers]

Great video! There are a lot of assumptions to classify microtubules as quantum computers. Maybe it’s correct, maybe it isn’t. I do agree the role of microtubules is much bigger than what is now assumed mainstream. If you see an animation of cell division it’s almost scary to see the flawless computation going on with proteins acting like pieces of code. I do really like the idea of the universal Turing machine and will read the document from Hameroff. You could see dna as the lint, it even has the start and stop codes. The proteins have the functions. What I always missed in the bigger picture is the orchestrator at the cell level. Who knows, maybe each cell is like a giant factory with conveyor belts and signaling that is completely built around microtubules. It provides the structure and networking, but it might also hold the secret to its operation. Based on signals from around the cell and in the cell it triggers certain parts of the factory to produce the right proteins and deliver them to the right spot. It might just be a cellular automaton of a phenomenal size. Life did have a few billion years to evolve individual cells, with a giant planet to keep the numbers and iterations up for a long time. Once the basis of a code, a running factory and behavior around the cell was in place, it enabled multicellular organisms. If you then upgrade the code (dna) over time through evolution, you upgrade each and every cell. Then evolution theory does the rest for you. Open question would be how consciousness emerged for many living beings over time. Microtubules as a quantum computer in the brain is an explanation, but still highly speculative.

[@bobhumid]

Great summary! Thanx. Thanx for the summary! Personally I think the example with the food options and the predator is not very illustrative. In order to react good in a situation like you illustrated, just priorising the predator (We are all descendents of animals with a slight or strong tendency to act paranoically - because that´s how you survive in non-civilisational contextt), which is definetly a kind of binary switch / decision, can be explained with cybernetics and evolutionary biology. You either freeze, run away or attack the predator. You won´t have a sandwich-snack in such a situation. The creatures that ate their sandwich (or fly) prior to run away, froze to death (Which literally means to stop signalising "victim-behaviour patterns" to the predator) or attack the predator are the ones that survived through Evolution. They are our forefathers and fpremothers. The sandwich-takers on the other hand have been eaten and most probably did not find a way to reproduce. So, a complex and rational behaviour-mechanicsm would just transform you into the rpedator´s snack, since conscious analyse takes time (The famous 0,6 seconds). Literally. reflexes and instinctive reactions are hardwired and almost "instant" - at least their fast and acted out before your consciousness is aware of the act. However I would not be surprised if the microtubular-system had a strong influence on even such simple behaviour-patterns, but I don´t believe (I am guessing) that those are needed for these super-archaic respnses (Flee, act and attack or freeze). It might be different with deep thinking and time-consuming analysations of "problems" (We are prediction-machines). Why not. Maybe the microtubulars are there to have neurological "wiggle-room". Think "buffers" in a computional stream, but on a time-base.

[@wilsonsil2605]

Great video! I'm fascinated with this subject. About Orch-OR theory, I have a question for you. The theory says that (please, correct me if I am wrong) in the orchestration fase a group of neurons and its microtubules go progressively becoming entangled, reaching a critical mass and the threshold of separation of space-time curvatures for each quantum state. At this point Roger Penrose supposes that the "Nature" choose one state that results in the objective reduction...ok...but what means "Nature" choose? It's pretty vague... This is a first a point. At the same time Stuart Hameroff argues that the information about quantum states cannot be destroyed and maybe, the consciouness survives even with the biological death... So, in your personal opinion, in that context of quantum consciouness do you believe that we have a soul? Or better a quantum soul, formed by some tangle of quantum information that survives in some way on structure of space-time and choose the states?

[@JustinRiddle]

Hi Wilson, thank you for the thoughtful questions. The "nature" chooses part refers to the idea that the wavefunction is computing some probability state, and then there is a reduction step which randomly samples from this distribution. In many quantum algorithms, great care is placed on generating a meaningful probability distribution. For example, you may be computing the optimal path through a maze and then when the optimal path is found this gets a high probability within the wavefunction. This means you may have a > 95% of getting the best possible path, but even still there is a small chance that a suboptimal path is chosen. In practice, you would run the quantum computation multiple times and then choose the path that comes out of the computation the most. The reduction step itself is still mysterious though. Is it truly random??? What does it mean to be random??? Feinberg wondered about this - the photon (or whatever) has to choose and it has to choose something so do we just accept that "random" is a process that really exists and just forces an arbitrary choice. David Bohm speculated that there are hidden variables that make this choice at the end of the day - they are hidden because we don't quite know what they are but they still make sense and have a system of logic for them. Henry Stapp suggests that there is a wavefunction at the scale of the whole universe and this makes the ultimate call - still respecting the probability distribution but then taking a grander set of relationships into account. This is a form of "entanglement" but a hidden type of not like you typically would talk about when creating a quantum computation you need to get all the qubits entangled (or microtubules in the Hameroff model). This subtle distinction has led to a lot of confusion... I am guilty of interchanging these levels of entanglement (see Episode 9). As for the quantum soul, this refers to the idea that a wavefunction can be teleported between systems. The wavefunction of one photon can be teleported and swapped with the wavefunction of another photon. Thus, it is theoretically possible that if we are a quantum computer that something may survive the physical death, but it would need to occupy a new body of equivalent capacity.... but what would be the mechanism for this? In traditional quantum teleportation studies, there are specific conditions for making the teleportation take place. I think it's an open question, and not beyond the pale of impossibility. However, we definitely go into the realm of "woo-woo" so it is difficult to talk about this in formal scientific circles, but fascinating and could one day provide a mechanism to some anomalous human experiences...

[@wilsonsil2605]

@@JustinRiddle Thank you for the answer!

[@davidkemp3154]

The reduction step can also be called law of energy conservation applied on nonlocal levels: the basis of quantum entanglement as it were.

[@marylinn9028]

Not bad. Keep going pushing further

[@JustinRiddle]

Thanks!

[@deepblack67]

Mind is in and of the Substrate/Medium, and non-local. Micro-tubules are the antenna.

[@silentbullet2023]

Invaluable lessons, thanks a lot! (Hameroff is a medical doctor btw)

[@SSharma-fj8vd]

Great ❤

[@themiddlevoice]

Interesting stuff. Are you familiar with Randy Gallistel's research? Does it come up in any of your work? He has been making some interesting arguments against the traditional neuron doctrine.

[@homynacuriel9453]

Great video! Love your thoughts on this subject. Now, if you haven't already, research the work of Dr. Michael Levin to question if he isn't finding the "master signal" that works with these processes. Also, look up Thomas Metzinger's work on phantom limb syndrome, he once described at length "the map" the body has of itself and seems to me to be related to this line of thought.

[@danscieszinski4120]

Who thinks David Bohm might be due for a big renaissance in these discussions? ✋

[@aktuelPL]

wow, what a great channel. It is so underrated comparing to others so please continue your work despite statistics. Your channel has huge value! PS. Waiting for times when Google Alghoritm finally finds it out ;)

[@redrosin99]

Nice summary. Learning requires memory. A quantum computer is more efficient in space/time and probably power however in the substructures of the cell a digital computer might be able to perform the complex tasks the cell.

[@VonJay]

13:45: I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard of epigenetics. Apparently the Junk DNA is an “imprinted” gene or segment, or it is the blueprint for making long strands of RNA that don’t travel to ribosomes but are used to silence large areas of DNA (which can be involved in imprinting genes but not necessarily). Of course the RNA methods are used along with methylation of cpg islands and the acetylation of histones when it comes to silencing and unsilencing genes.

[@user-lo1xk4yk4q]

Stuart Hameroff being an anaesthetist does not mean he is not interested in a quantum approach to consciousness of course. Roger Penrose was a colleague of the late David Bohm who was a pioneer in the quantum physics evolution. Bohm was a philosopher in his own right and the observer is the observed insight he had lead him to have many discussions about consciousness with the philosopher J Krishnamurti. The divisions in science are largely artificial. As in Rupert Sheldrake a biologist introducing quantum physics into biology in the morphogenetic field.

[@HeadakusMaximus]

Wait. This means that we are the replicators that consume everything.

[@protonrecuva6717]

Is it possible dna modification will make the microtubules malfunction?

[@depurasangre86]

Interesting. So in abiogenesis...the absolute origin of life...would the microtubule be the ignition to life? I've read about other proteins needing to exist first such as peptides. I believe they are what encapsulates the cell since one part is hydrophobic and the opposite is hydrophilic. So they naturally assemble a kind of wall. Do the peptides encapsulate microtubules and together they evolve into life?

[@j.sparks3211]

check out the Sparse Distributed Representation work by Gerard Rinkus

[@bobhumid]

Mate. PLEASE reformat your informational text under your video. NOBODY can properly read that without getting eyecramps. And I am a reader

[@rollingmancave4547]

Can these ideas Mx's be consolidated with Michael Levin's work on the "electrical nature of cells and cellular communication?

[@zvorenergy]

Yes they should fit together. MicroTubules have a 3GHz resonance and generate EM fields both individually and in groups. The dense MT net fills cells(NOT empty as illustrated), so the biomorphic field has full access to every nook and cranny.

[@VonJay]

Your channel is so bingable

[@TechyBen]

It probably involves more than "nothing", in the same way wires/traces in a CPU and computer actually have importance in *timing* and syncing of signals, not just routing. So I can accept it's more complex than just neuron synapse ending, but I don't think it's the top/most important factor of the brain.

[@DirtyLifeLove]

How many atoms are in the microtubules of a single neuron?

[@vadim1831]

Can you please explain how the cell could be a quantum computer if quantum computers require an absolute zero environment.

[@davidkemp3154]

Where memory & potential overlap time exists begins & ends.

[@markstipulkoski1389]

Microtubiles evolved to provide mechanical structure to the cell. The fact that they provide a quantum quiet place was incidental. That exlains why it is so simple in its structure, it is just a physical support member, aka a beam.

[@gdok6088]

It's the inside of the microtubule that is probably the most special bit/place, because of a) the isolation provided by the tubulin proteins and b) the scale of the microtubule (inner diameter of 10 - 15 nanometers) which creates a space that is isolated from the outside world at which quantum effects/computation can operate. Interestingly microtubules become utterly ravaged and partially or fully destroyed in Alzheimer's disease with tragically devastating results for brain function.

[@markstipulkoski1389]

@@gdok6088 Although I believe microtubules provide a quantum component to the function of the brain, I believe that neural networks do the heavy lifting. So I think that destruction of neural networks in general, not specifically the microtubules, that cause the dementia. I am in the camp of people who believe that precognition/premonitions are real, not delusion or statistically attributed coincidence. An attribute of quantum mechanics is entanglement and there are experiments that suggest entanglement is across time as well as space. From there, I suggest that premonition is the entanglement of the current brain states with their near future selves. Retrocausality. At the near future event, our neural networks entangle the environment within the microtubules. These entanglements begin to drop off the further away in time you get from the event, both in the postive and negative time directions. We detect the future event when the number of entanglements has reached a threshold where they become conscious thoughts. As you move forward in time to the significant event, the number of entanglements increases. I believe microtubule entanglements are a weak influence on neural network operation. That is why we don't go around knowing the future. Premonitions typically occur when we are in relaxed mental state, like dreaming, when the quantum influence is not drowned out by other things. I believe short term premonitions created a survival advantage that was amplified by natural selection. You anticipate that a predator is about to attack. It may also play a role in providing quicker reflexes.

[@zvorenergy]

This could be how to align AI. Imagine a future, instead of running AI on cryogenically cooled quantum computers and fragile slices of baroquely wrought silicon, why not simply use what Nature has so generously provided? Bespoke networks of microtubules, stabilized and tended by engineered glial cells, running all kinds of computational applications, enhancing our memories among other abilities, wirelessly transceiving at 3Ghz, and hosting our own personal AI's, which would be as aligned as you are.

[@MrGoMario]

As appealing as this theory sounds, one can not ignore one physical fact: even minute quantum coherence, needs orders of magnitude more stable conditions than biological microtubules can ever offer! And there seem to be no way around this... Not unless our understanding of nature must fundamentally be changed....

[@JustinRiddle]

Thanks for the comment. It is definitely beyond current human engineering and our tools for fast protein dynamics in research is limited. I believe that 1 millisecond of quantum coherence was sustained in a lab in the past few years. Perhaps biology figured out some novel solution and our technology is still catching up.

[@MrGoMario]

@Infinite Shoeblack Sorry, English is my 4th language 😢 If you can not understand my comment or you find it insulting, let me know and I will delete it right away.

[@JustinRiddle]

@Infinite Shoeblack There is no physical, only digital information! ;) Of course digital information is very "real"

[@plotinus393]

Everything is a collapsed quantum substratum. You're acting like what is fundamental (quantum) depends upon that which is an appearance / collapse (perceptible / material world), it is the other way around.

[@GrahamGarnerQu]

It might seem silly to mention this, but I have been watching KZbin videos about The Langlands Programme and L functions - which are unbelievably complex - however I was struck by the simple explanations the guy gave on manipulating and creating L functions (and P-adic maths) that the matrices and rows could look rather like the 13 Tubulin rows in Microtubules - could they perhaps as well as having quantum calculation and nature be using a different, more fundamental mathematics, to process information? So Microtubules could be Langlands Quantum computers, not just quantum computers. kzbin.info/www/bejne/apPdhHmEeM5-qM0si=-bQBc5QYwM4ipJwc

[@RoboticusMusic]

Is there life without microtubules? I wonder how it would behave.

[@RoboticusMusic]

Are you aware of a team that has modeled a microtubule using a supercomputer?

[@GrahamGarnerQu]

A lot more from Stuart Hammerhof in this lecture. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpDFgqqaf86lZ9Esi=oJWor86ZXlJeLW6p

[@PaulSinghSelhi-VFX-TUTORIALS]

In Sikhi there is ONLY The Totality..The Akal..The Timeless ONE. There is no You, there is no I..there is ONLY THE ONE ACTOR PLAYING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS Ergo there is ONLY ONE CONSCIOUSNESS.. THAT OF THE UNIVERSE..That of The Akal Purakh..That of Ik Onkar. Ik- There is ONE(Ik) reality, the origin and the source of everything. The creation did not come out of nothing. When there was nothing, there was ONE, Ik. Onkaar- When Ik becomes the creative principal it becomes Onkaar. Onkaar manifests as visible and invisible phenomenon. The creative principle is not separated from the created, it is present throughout the creation in an unbroken form, 'kaar'. Satnaam- The sustaining principle of Ik is Satnaam, the True Name, Exsistence. Kartaa Purakh- Ik Onkaar is Creator and Doer (Kartaa) of everything, all the seen and unseen phenomenon. It is not just a law or a system, it is a Purakh, a Person. Nirbhau- That Ik Onkaar is devoid of any fear, because there is nothing but itself. Nirvair- That Ik Onkaar is devoid of any enmity because there is nothing but itself. Akaal Moorat- That Ik Onkaar is beyond Time (Akaal) and yet it is existing. Its a Form(Moorat) which does not exist in Time. Ajooni- That Ik Onkaar does not condense and come into any birth. All the phenomenon of birth and death of forms are within it. Saibhang- That Ik Onkaar exists on its own, by its own. It is not caused by anything before it or beyond it. Gurprasaad- That Ik Onkaar is expresses itself through a channel known as Guru and it is only its own Grace and Mercy (Prasaad) that this happens. Ik­oaʼnkār saṯ nām karṯā purakẖ nirbẖa­o nirvair akāl mūraṯ ajūnī saibẖaʼn gur parsāḏ.

[@patod4]

Why does it seem to me paradoxical that you are explaining how microtubules could function in a 'quantum computer' inside the cell, that would allow it to react to friend or foe outside of the cell. Friend or foe mean the cell has already interiorized knowledge about them. To avoid a foe, the cell must have had a first encounter that left a mark, a kind of memory. The microtubules then should be like the ones you describe in the neuron, capable of stability for storage function. I guess my question is, how does the cell know what to know!

[@zvorenergy]

That's probably where Michael Levins work on biomorphic fields come in. The memory would be stored in the field, sort if like DRAM in a computer. As long as that field has power you're fine. If your field loses power that means you're dead, soo, I guess you don't need a memory at that point.

[@mickaelmationgo6313]

Do hear about Perry Marshall Work and his prize of 10 Millions $ on "where des code in life come from" you need to talk to him.

[@DirtyLifeLove]

Bio quantum computers? Natural error reduction or elimination?sweet

[@dohduhdah]

What evidence is there for this? Can you actually show that microtubules process information? Can you build an actual computer from microtubules? For neural networks we have actual evidence that they can process information and do cognitively demanding things (like mastering the game of go and beating human pro go players)... In fact, these artificial neural networks, judging from their behavior, attain an even higher level of consciousness as humans (in the sense that they behave like they know what's at stake as they play the game and decide which moves to play in order to win the game). All that's lacking is letting them cultivate language comprehension so they can talk about what it's like to be an artificial neural network or having neural networks that master the skill of teaching go to the same level of excellence that they have mastered the skill of playing go.

[@Gerugon]

When a raindrop flows down the windowglass it seeks out other raindrops, forms currents and complex patterns. It does not need a conciousness for that, same with single celled organisms. Basing a whole theory on one statement like "its small yet its doing amazing stuff so it must be magic." seems veeery fishy to me. I'll keep reading about it but the premise seems like something a stoner might come up with.

[@josesantos2603]

You look like myself... and have the same ideas. I was thinking about using microtubules for storage and fast biological computing. Moreover, the music that you used in the opening is terrible, you need to study more your voice for singing.

[@priyakulkarni9583]

Microtibules made of protein and proteins are nothing but carbon hydrogen oxygen and nitrogen. This atomic combo with quarks electromagnetic dance causes emergence of consciousness!!!! Really!!! 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@PrivateSi]

Very biased and overhyped, but sadly equally dismissive and shallow when it comes to more standard thoughts on the subjects involved. Microtubules are ideal multi-purpose structural and mechanical elements. If you need to distribute chemicals or provide hydraulic mechanics you need tubes. a bundle of tubes make skeletal muscle-like structures.. DNA controls the cell.

[@GrahamGarnerQu]

Interesting article here on slime moulds microtubules and unconventional or non-classical computing. Seems to me this opens up all sorts of areas that are worth exploring. (as indeed they are) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594612/

[@savethegaywhalesindarfur3511]

There's actually only 9 dimers to a microtubule, and each dimer is 2 proteins. I don't think that discredits you but just saying. 👍