Donald R. Tveter
Donald R. Tveter | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | DePaul University, Northwestern University |
| Known for | Proposal that natural intelligence has a quantum basis |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science, Artificial intelligence |
Donald R. Tveter is a computer scientist and author known for his writings on artificial intelligence and his proposal that human intelligence may have a quantum-mechanical basis. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Background
Tveter studied mathematics and physics at DePaul University, where he received a BS in mathematics, and earned an MS and PhD in computer science from Northwestern University. He taught computer science at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and at Bradley University in Peoria. He is the author of The Pattern Recognition Basis of Artificial Intelligence (Wiley/IEEE Computer Society Press).
Quantum basis of natural intelligence
On his website, Tveter argues in a work titled The Quantum Basis of Natural Intelligence? that the human brain is not a digital computer but instead operates quantum-mechanically. He discusses proposals that microtubules within neurons could function as quantum computing elements, allowing many values to be represented simultaneously, and he suggests that establishing such a mechanism would be a major scientific discovery affecting psychology, computer science and artificial intelligence. This position lies outside the mainstream computational view of the brain and remains speculative.