I think we are vastly underestimating how optimised life on Earth is on the axes of energy efficiency vs computational capacity. Current state of robotics and AI together is showing us that life and biological neural networks are capable of doing things we still cannot fully replicate, all the while using orders of magnitude less energy. A honey bee or an ant still remains incomprehensible, and the most basic worm insimulable.<p>I posit an extrapolation that once we figure out how life has managed to come up with its incredible computational capabilities, our silicon AI is going to become not only a lot smarter, but also a lot cheaper too.
I think this is the wishful thinking of people who want to believe that consciousness is a deep mystery that won't be solved in their lifetimes. All while the capabilities of simulated neural networks are eclipsing humans in relatively short period of time.<p>It's possible human thought leverages quantum processes. That doesn't mean it's likely.
Meh, the quantum computation capacity of a cell may well be vastly larger than the 'classical' estimates - just like chemistry itself.<p>But the results boil down to what we observe - signal spikes between neurons, which seem to be not that mysterious.