Master's Thesis- Penrose/ Hameroff Orch OR: Intro and Methodology rough draft

     I will be writing my Master's Thesis on Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff's Orchestrated Objective Reduction, or Orch OR, theory of consciousness. As part of my proposal, here is a rough draft of my introduction and methodology page. Enjoy!



Introduction

     Currently there are several quantum theory approaches to consciousness. Each involving the idea that consciousness may be explained by or a result of quantum processes taking place within the brain at the subatomic particle level or quantum level of physics. Although each holds the potential of possessing the elusive ‘missing piece’ to what and/or where consciousness is, one theory in particular seems to be gaining more ground than others in recent years. Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff present their theory of Orchestrated Objective Reduction, or Orch OR, as a possible explanation to the questions concerning consciousness and its essence. In 1989, Penrose published The Emperor’s New Mind where he discusses the notion of non-computational processes existing in the brain based off of Gödel’s theory. Penrose came to the conclusion that human consciousness cannot be algorithmically explained thus presenting a spontaneous aspect to its nature. Turning to quantum mechanics, Penrose hypothesized there must be some quantum process taking place in the brain that could account for this spontaneity. His conclusion was a correlation between the collapse of a wave function and the appearance of consciousness however he could not explain where the collapse of a wave function in the brain could produce or at the very least create a building block for consciousness. It wasn’t until Stuart Hameroff, an anesthesiologist, read his book while conducting his own research in the field of consciousness and contacted Penrose that this missing possible location would be given. Hameroff suggested a structure called microtubules in the brain could be the answer Penrose was looking for.



Methodology

     Since this is a bit of an unconventional topic, so will be my approach to this paper. As shown in my timeline on page _ , I have a rough outline to show the topics to be researched as well as tentative timeframes to be spent on each. However, I have found throughout my journey in this process, things rarely go according to plan, therefore my timeline is ultimately fluid as are my research methods.

     With my primary resources in hand (see Literary Review page), I plan to initially dive into Orch OR theory and spend a few weeks trying to grasp the entire concept itself (ie. what evidence and arguments presented by Penrose and Hameroff in their publications warrant support of Orch OR theory, if any). As I make my way through, I will keep a list of ideas/ topics/ terminology/ etc. that I would like to or will need to revisit in order to better understand certain aspects touched on. For example, Penrose believes the collapse of a wave function could be the moment where consciousness arises or at least gives us a building block to work with. He calls this moment the ‘Moment of Proto-Consciousness’. Since my background is not in physics or quantum mechanics I will need to spend some additional time learning, exploring and researching wave function collapse in order to better understand what Penrose is proposing.

     Once I have a deeper understanding and can speak to the general idea of Orch OR, I will seek out additional research done by outside parties from approved academic journals to see if their findings support or reject the ideas and science proposed by Penrose and Hameroff. The most common found critiques will be given additional attention as well as be presented in my thesis in order to stay unbiased in my research.

     Once all research has been done, I will then compile my thoughts and findings in a paper to be submitted as my Master’s Thesis on the topic of Orchestrated Objective Reduction Theory.