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Re: MAPS: Digest: N2O and Brain Cells



Bill,

The depolarization of lipid membranes was, of course, the mechanism that I 
was alluding to in my message.  Depolarization entails absorption of 
electrons that are delocalized in the fatty acid chains of the phospholipid 
bilayer, and is thus a process involving a quantum probability function.

Fundamentally, the quantum theory of hallucinogenesis is this.  The brain 
state is a wave function of possible states which are linked to states of the 
Universe.  We can think of the wave function in a space as a complex form, 
like a face, for example, that can transform into any possible face.  All of 
the quantum events in the brain enter into the genesis of the brain state.  
It takes several tenths of a second, for example, to fully perceive a face.  
The face we perceive is coupled to sensory imput and to memory, but is still 
an object that exists only in a subjective sense within the mind, which is 
subjectively united with the face "out there."  There is, in fact, no "out 
there" but only an "in here."  Our inner space is filled with what we call 
"objective reality."  This is only the reality of the face in a limited sense.

	The possibilities expressed in the wave function do not exist in 
classical science.  In classical science there is a single, objective 
reality.  In quantum science there are multiple, potential realities.  In the 
former case, there is no other reality which we can perceive, and 
hallucinations and altered states are unreal.  In the latter, there can be a 
reality and a meaning.  Hallucinogens and other psychotropic drugs alter the 
"wave function" of mind in quantum terms, they change the field and range of 
possibilities, and can bring us to different perspectives of reality that are 
real.

Mark Germine

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