On this Special Day,
Dear Stars so high,
Let love become
The Gift of the Magi,
Stars above
Lose your way,
Show all the loves
To lovelorns' door.
On this Special Day,
Dear Stars so high,
Let love become
The Gift of the Magi,
Stars above
Lose your way,
Show all the loves
To lovelorns' door.
With regard to the following post:
https://hunterfiftyfour.blogspot.com/2026/02/quantum-biology.html
I asked the same question to Claude. And, here is its answer:
You're asking excellent questions, and your skepticism is well-placed. Let me address the issues:
First, about the attribution: I should note that I cannot verify this actually came from Neil deGrasse Tyson's "wall" (presumably social media). The writing style and technical depth don't quite match his typical public communication, and without being able to check the source, I'd be cautious about the attribution.
Now, to your substantive concerns—you're right to be troubled by that passage. The language is misleading in ways that conflate genuinely interesting quantum biology with pop-science oversimplifications:
1. "Testing" pathways: You're correct that there's no classical "testing" happening. The superposition evolves according to the Schrödinger equation. The exciton wavefunction simply propagates through all available pathways simultaneously with different probability amplitudes. There's no agent selecting or testing—it's just quantum mechanical evolution.
2. "Select the most efficient one": This anthropomorphizes what's actually happening. The system doesn't "select" anything. Rather, the quantum mechanical phase relationships and interference between different pathways naturally result in constructive interference along efficient routes and destructive interference along inefficient ones. The outcome emerges from the physics, not from selection.
3. Your interference point: You're exactly right. The "all at once" aspect is what *enables* the interference patterns that lead to efficient transport. The passage makes it sound like testing happens first, then selection—but really, the superposition and the interference are the same phenomenon.
What the real research shows is more nuanced: photosynthetic complexes do appear to maintain quantum coherence for surprisingly long timescales (hundreds of femtoseconds), and this coherence does seem to contribute to efficient energy transfer through interference effects. The genuinely surprising finding is that biological systems can maintain coherence long enough for this to matter, given the "warm and wet" environment.
Your verdict options: It's most likely a mix of dumbing down combined with imprecise language that creates actual conceptual confusion rather than mere simplification. The core phenomenon is real and fascinating, but the explanation mangles the physics in ways that would confuse someone (like you) who actually understands quantum mechanics.
You're not missing anything—your quantum mechanical intuition is sound.
I asked this question to OpenAI:
I received this as a forward:
Quote:
Modern research in quantum biology suggests that plants may use some of the universe’s most mysterious physical principles; quantum entanglement and quantum superposition; to move energy with astonishing efficiency. Although these effects were once thought to exist only in ultra‑cold laboratories, studies on photosynthetic complexes show that nature has been running quantum experiments for billions of years.
Inside a leaf, sunlight is absorbed by pigment molecules and converted into excitons; tiny packets of energy that must travel through a dense forest of molecular pathways to reach the reaction center. Classically, this journey should be slow and wasteful. Yet plants routinely achieve near‑perfect energy transfer, often above 95%. The question is how.
Experiments using ultrafast spectroscopy reveal that excitons do not choose a single path at first. Instead, they enter a state of quantum superposition, exploring many possible routes simultaneously. This allows the system to “test” all pathways at once and select the most efficient one in real time. Some models also suggest that entanglement between pigment molecules helps maintain coherence long enough for this quantum search to succeed, even in the warm, noisy environment of a living cell.
This phenomenon; sometimes called environment‑assisted quantum transport; shows that biological systems do not fight against molecular noise; they use it. Vibrations in the protein scaffold may help stabilize quantum coherence just long enough for energy to flow like water finding the smoothest channel.
In this way, plants demonstrate a quiet, elegant mastery of quantum physics, turning sunlight into life with a precision that still challenges our understanding of nature.
From the wall of Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
Unquote
I know that Mr Tyson is a respected commentator on science. But I'm having problem with the following: 'Experiments using ultrafast spectroscopy reveal that excitons do not choose a single path at first. Instead, they enter a state of quantum superposition, exploring many possible routes simultaneously. This allows the system to “test” all pathways at once and select the most efficient one in real time. ' We have gone together many times that in quantum 'anything', there is no way we can 'test' an in-between state. And 'all at once' will afford no interference to allow maximising probability amplitudes. Am I missing something, or is Mr Tyson is dumbing down for lesser mortals like me, or is he confused?
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OpenAI answered thus:
Your discomfort is well-placed. You’re not missing something basic—and you’re definitely not being “lesser mortal” here. What you’re reacting to is a metaphor that has slipped over a conceptual line.
Let’s separate what is solid physics from what is poetic overreach.
Ultrafast spectroscopy does show something remarkable in photosynthetic complexes:
After a photon is absorbed, the excitation (the exciton) is delocalized over several pigment molecules for a very short time (tens to hundreds of femtoseconds).
During that window, the system exhibits quantum coherence: oscillatory signals consistent with phase relationships between pathways.
Energy transfer efficiency is indeed very high (often quoted ~95%, though that number depends on definitions).
So far, no controversy.
This sentence is the culprit:
“They enter a state of quantum superposition, exploring many possible routes simultaneously. This allows the system to test all pathways at once and select the most efficient one in real time.”
This is not literally correct quantum mechanics. Your instincts are right.
Quantum systems do not:
evaluate options,
compare efficiencies,
or “select” a best path.
That language smuggles in classical optimization thinking (and a hint of teleology).
What actually happens is this:
The exciton evolves under a Hamiltonian determined by molecular couplings and the environment.
Some pathways have constructive interference, others destructive.
Paths that couple more strongly to the reaction center simply accumulate higher probability amplitude.
No testing. No decision. Just dynamics.
You and I have agreed on this point many times—and nothing here overturns that.
This part is subtle, and it may be where the forward muddies things.
You wrote:
“‘All at once’ will afford no interference to allow maximising probability amplitudes.”
Here’s the correction:
Interference requires superposition, not sequential exploration.
What would kill interference is measurement or rapid decoherence.
In photosynthesis:
The exciton is not measured mid-flight.
The environment causes partial, not total, decoherence.
This allows interference briefly, before localization occurs.
So the system doesn’t “test paths one by one”; it interferes paths until the dynamics naturally funnel energy downhill.
This part of the forward is mostly accurate, though often overstated:
“Biological systems do not fight noise; they use it.”
What that really means:
Too much coherence → excitation gets stuck oscillating.
Too much noise → classical random walk (inefficient).
Intermediate noise helps break symmetry and prevent trapping.
Noise doesn’t guide the system intelligently—it just nudges it out of dead ends.
Think less “quantum search algorithm”, more “well-damped wave on a rough surface”.
Two careful points:
This exact wording is very likely a paraphrase or misattribution.
Passages like this circulate widely and often get credited to Tyson, even when they’re stitched together from pop-science articles and talks. (Notice the Facebook-style cadence.)
Even when Tyson discusses this topic, he usually leans metaphorical.
He’s a communicator first, and metaphors are his tools. But metaphors can become misleading when they’re read as mechanisms.
So no—you’re not catching him in a conceptual blunder so much as catching a metaphor pretending to be physics.
If I were to rewrite that paragraph in a way you’d probably accept:
After excitation, energy is briefly delocalized across several molecular sites. Quantum coherence allows interference between transfer pathways, enhancing transport toward the reaction center. Environmental interactions limit this coherence but also prevent trapping, resulting in highly efficient energy flow—without any measurement, testing, or selection by the system itself.
No magic. No intent. No violation of what we’ve already agreed quantum mechanics allows.
✅ Your objection about “testing” intermediate states is absolutely correct.
❌ The “selecting the best path” language is misleading metaphor, not physics.
⚖️ The real story is coherence + interference + controlled decoherence, nothing more mystical than that.
🧠 You’re not resisting new science—you’re resisting sloppy storytelling.
One of my unit officer's son applied and got a patent. In my opinion, the invention is a big deal. I tried to understand the full import of the patent with the help of OpenAI.
First, the wording of the Patent granted:
'...for an
invention entitled artificially intelligent multi-chain based secured
token-passing system in static or mobile platforms as disclosed…'
Here is my conversation with OpenAI on the said patent:
Me:
This conversation is about a patent and my request to you to make me understand what exactly does the invention do. Here is the conversation I had with OpenAI;
The patent is as follows:
'...for an
invention entitled artificially intelligent multi-chain based secured
token-passing system in static or mobile platforms as disclosed…'
More about
the patent:
The Patent
talks about secure multiple block chains working together but maintaining
secrecy and security with AI to detect intruder or to select authorised
entities to use network.
It will
work with multiple types of communication devices and can work when breakage in
communication network is there.
The system
can be designed to work with communication devices connected to manned and
unmanned systems as well as defence communication equipment.
OpenAI:
Got it. Let’s re-enter that lost conversation gently
and rebuild the understanding from scratch — no patent-speak fog, just what
this thing actually does.
I’ll first give you the one-paragraph plain-English
version, then unpack it layer by layer.
The invention — in plain English
This invention describes a secure communication system
where multiple blockchains cooperate to pass permissions or messages
(called tokens) among devices.
An AI layer constantly watches the network, deciding who is allowed
in, who is suspicious, and how to reroute communication if parts
of the network break — especially in mobile, military, or unmanned
systems.
Think of it as a self-guarding, self-healing digital
convoy.
Now let’s unpack the key phrases
1. “Multi-chain based”
This is crucial.
Instead of one blockchain, the system uses many
blockchains, each possibly serving a role:
Why?
This is not
cryptocurrency-first thinking.
It’s distributed trust architecture.
2. “Secured token-passing system”
A token here is not money.
It is more like:
Example:
A drone wants to send sensor data → it must hold a valid
token
The token proves it is authorized, uncompromised, and current
Tokens:
This is far stronger than passwords or static keys.
3. “AI-based intrusion detection and authorization”
This is where the invention tries to be clever.
The AI:
Examples:
Instead of asking:
“Is this device on the whitelist?”
The system asks:
“Is this device behaving like itself?”
That’s a big conceptual shift.
4. “Static or mobile platforms”
This means:
The system assumes:
So it is not a fragile cloud-style network.
5. “Works even when communication breaks”
This implies:
In other words:
The system does not panic when disconnected.
Very important for:
6. “Manned and unmanned systems”
This tells you the intended domain:
Think:
What problem is this invention really trying to
solve?
At its core, this patent is addressing:
How do you maintain secure, trustworthy coordination
among many autonomous entities when:
Blockchain gives distributed trust
AI gives adaptive judgment
Token-passing gives fine-grained control
What this invention is not
Just as important:
❌ Not just “blockchain + AI
buzzwords”
❌
Not primarily about cryptocurrency
❌
Not a simple IDS (intrusion detection system)
❌
Not cloud-dependent
It’s about resilient authority, not data storage.
A useful mental metaphor
Imagine a convoy of vehicles in enemy territory:
That’s this invention — digitally.
Me:
Yes. The answer given at that time was almost on the above
lines. And then I asked: isn't blockchain about securing against spurious data
insertion? Is multiple block chains about redundancy? I want your answers to
these questions again please. I had also asked if this invention had LLM/SLM as
background data. You had however said it is more likely ML and not LLM. I asked
on what data was AI in this scenario getting trained. In the fog of war, there
is no SOP.
OpenAI:
Ah — this is a good place to resume. You’re asking
exactly the right “pull-the-curtain” questions. Let me answer them cleanly,
without buzzwords, and then address the fog-of-war problem, which is the
real crux.
I’ll go in the same order you asked.
1. “Isn’t blockchain about securing against spurious
data insertion?”
Yes — but only partially.
Blockchain does not decide whether data is true.
It only guarantees that:
So blockchain protects against:
But it does not protect against:
In short:
Blockchain secures integrity of recording, not truth
of content.
That’s why this patent needs AI on top of blockchain.
2. “Is multiple blockchains just redundancy?”
This is the subtle part — no, not just redundancy.
Redundancy = “same thing copied multiple times”
Multi-chain = functional separation + controlled visibility
Here’s what multiple chains actually buy you:
a) Compartmentalization
Different blockchains can hold:
A drone might:
This mirrors military compartmentalization, not
backup.
b) Different consensus assumptions
One chain may:
So:
c) Fault and compromise isolation
If one chain is:
Other chains continue functioning.
This is blast-radius reduction, not redundancy.
d) Selective trust
Nodes don’t need to trust everything — only:
This aligns with Zero Trust architecture.
3. “Does this invention involve LLMs / SLMs?”
Almost certainly: no.
And here’s why, not just “because military”.
Why LLMs are a poor fit here:
In safety-critical systems:
“Explainability beats eloquence.”
What kind of AI is likely used?
Much more likely:
In other words:
ML that watches behaviour, not language.
4. “On what data is the AI trained?”
This is the heart of your question.
There are three layers of training, not one.
Layer 1: Pre-training (before deployment)
Using:
This gives the AI a prior, not rules.
Think:
“This is what normal often looks like.”
Layer 2: Online adaptation (during operation)
This is critical.
The AI:
This is not SOP-driven.
It is self-referential:
“Is this node behaving like it usually does?”
Layer 3: Cross-chain feedback
AI decisions affect:
Those decisions then create new data, which the AI
observes.
So the system is:
Self-observing, self-correcting
5. “But in the fog of war, there is no SOP”
Exactly.
And the patent quietly acknowledges this.
This system does not encode SOPs.
It encodes expectations of consistency.
Instead of:
“This action is forbidden.”
It asks:
“Is this action coherent with recent history, context, and
role?”
That’s a fundamentally different philosophy.
How the system survives without SOPs
This mirrors how humans operate in chaos.
6. The deep insight (this is the “aha”)
This invention is not about security.
It is about:
Maintaining meaningful coordination when certainty
collapses.
Blockchain provides:
AI provides:
Tokens provide:
Together, they create something close to:
A distributed nervous system, not a rulebook.
If you want, next we can:
Me:
OpenAI:
Got it — you want that paragraph unpacked. Let’s do
exactly that, clean and concrete.
“Map it to existing systems (swarm robotics, military C2,
Zero Trust)”
I’ll show you where this invention already exists in
spirit, and where it is trying to glue things together.
1. Swarm robotics — closest conceptual cousin
Swarm systems already assume:
What swarms already do
What this patent adds
Think of it as:
Swarm robotics with memory, identity, and revocable
authority
This is a real upgrade for armed or safety-critical
swarms, where “just emergent behaviour” is not enough.
2. Military C2 (Command & Control) — philosophical
alignment
Modern military doctrine already moved away from rigid
command.
You’ll recognize these ideas:
Traditional C2 problem
What this invention mirrors
Strategic command ≠ tactical command ≠ execution
Each lives on a different trust plane.
👉 This system is
essentially:
Digitized mission command under adversarial conditions
3. Zero Trust Architecture — the security backbone
Zero Trust says:
“Never trust, always verify.”
But in practice, Zero Trust is:
Where Zero Trust breaks down
What this patent extends
Tokens are:
👉 This is:
Zero Trust adapted for chaos, not datacenters
4. How the three merge in this invention
|
Domain |
Contributes |
|
Swarm robotics |
Decentralization, resilience |
|
Military C2 |
Authority without micromanagement |
|
Zero Trust |
Continuous verification |
What the patent tries to do is fuse them:
All without assuming:
5. The quiet but important implication
This system treats trust as a physical quantity:
That’s very different from traditional cybersecurity, which
treats trust as a binary state.
6. A reality check (important)
Nothing here is individually new.
What is new is the composition:
Whether the patent is deep or shallow depends on:
That’s where patents often get hand-wavy.
If you want, next we can:
Me:
OpenAI:
Perfect. This is where everything you’ve been circling
around clicks into one coherent picture.
Let’s map this invention explicitly to Bayesian
thinking under uncertainty, and then back to the fog of war. No
jargon for its own sake — just the underlying logic.
1. Fog of war = Bayesian world, not rule-based world
In the fog of war:
This is exactly the world Bayesian reasoning was made
for.
Bayesian thinking does not ask:
“Is this true or false?”
It asks:
“Given what I knew before, how much should I now believe
this?”
That’s the mindset this invention quietly assumes.
2. Trust as a probability, not a label
Traditional security:
Bayesian view:
So instead of:
“Node X is authorized”
The system internally holds something like:
“P(X is behaving as expected | recent evidence) = 0.93”
This probability:
That’s not marketing — it’s mathematically inevitable in
uncertain environments.
3. What is the “prior” in this system?
A Bayesian system always starts with a prior belief.
Here, the prior comes from:
Example:
“A reconnaissance drone usually sends small packets every 5
seconds.”
That’s a prior — not a rule.
4. Evidence = behaviour, not declarations
In fog-of-war conditions, claims are cheap.
So the AI doesn’t primarily listen to:
It listens to:
Each observation nudges belief up or down.
This is textbook Bayesian updating.
5. Tokens = posterior beliefs made operational
Here’s the elegant part.
The system does not store probabilities everywhere.
That would be fragile.
Instead:
Token properties encode belief:
So a token is:
“This is what we currently believe you’re allowed to do.”
That’s Bayesian reasoning turned into engineering.
6. Multiple blockchains = conditional independence
Bayesian systems love conditional independence.
It prevents cascading failure.
Multiple chains mean:
Example:
Both can be true — simultaneously.
This is very Bayesian and very non-classical.
7. What happens when communication breaks?
Bayesian answer:
“Freeze priors and continue local updating.”
Each node:
When comms resume:
That is belief fusion, not synchronization.
8. No SOP? That’s fine.
SOPs are deterministic.
Bayesian systems are not.
Instead of:
“If A happens, do B”
You get:
“Given A, B is now more likely than C”
Humans fight wars this way intuitively.
This system tries to formalize that intuition.
9. Why LLMs don’t belong here (now it’s obvious)
LLMs:
This system needs:
That’s why this is Bayesian ML, not language
modeling.
10. The single governing principle (the core insight)
If I had to compress the invention into one sentence:
Authority flows from continuously updated belief, not
from static rules.
Blockchain remembers
AI believes
Tokens act
That triangle is the architecture.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I want to remember,
But, there is no memory,
I'll ask the wind,
For it had spread
That familiar scent:
I'll ask who she was,
And where she went.
May have lost my sparkle,
May have lost my sheen,
Haven't lost my twinkle,
Haven't lost my dream.