Quantum Biology

The only things that must be true of every aspect of reality are summarized in saying that nothing can contradict the laws of logic.  That which is necessarily true cannot be false regardless of what else is true.  Beyond this, a person who claims that anything must be true about everything commits the fallacy of composition, erroneously claiming that what is true of one thing must be true about another.  For example, that one person has a certain motivation or personal skill does not mean that another person shares it.

If one can reach this point, it should not be difficult to realize that it is logically possible for the behavior of matter to differ quite drastically at the macro-scale, the scale of ordinary human experience, and the quantum (or subatomic) scale.  Even though this is a simple logical proof of possibility, many are still shocked when quantum phenomena are said to seem bizarre when compared to "normal" sensory experiences.

Perhaps this is the reason why so many people fail to even bring up the possibility of quantum life forms.  Since the size of a thing is a comparative quality that only has a reference point with regard to some other thing, there could be an entire set of quantum civilizations for which the subatomic scale is as normal as the macroscopic scale is for myself and other similar beings.  It seems that many people are so fixated on the possibility of life forms inhabiting other cosmological bodies, like planets and moons, that they neglect the possibility of quantum life.

Of course, the more basic components of alleged information about quantum physics are enough to confuse many people because of their abnormality.  It is not simply reported quantum particle behaviors that are "abnormal," however.  The details of biological functionality at the subatomic level do not have to mirror those of organisms that inhabit the macroworld.  Biology, after all, is only the study of living matter, and matter does not have to behave identically at different scales (phenomenology, the study of consciousness, is purest when rationalistic introspection, not science, is the focus, and thus consciousness is a tangent issue for basic biology).

What might life be capable of at the quantum level?  Could a "quantum organism" (I have never seen anyone else use this phrase, hence the quotation marks) inhabit two separate spatial locations at once?  Could it live for far longer than lifespans naturally last at the macro-scale?  Would quantum organisms even require the same few necessities that macroscopic life forms need for survival?  As long as something does not violate the laws of logic--an impossible thing, for contradictions cannot exist in actuality because no truth can contradict another--it is entirely possible.

Life could exist at the quantum level, and that life might not only be sentient, but also capable of utilizing the same degree of intelligence humans are capable of.  As the search for extraterrestrial life continues, there is no reason to not also search for indications of quantum organisms.  It must always be remembered that only the laws of logic, not the scientific laws that are familiar in the macroscopic world, dictate what is and is not possible at the quantum level.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/03/size-is-relative-ontology-of-shapes-and.html