Introduction: Recent discoveries in quantum optics suggest that under the right conditions, photons can exhibit liquid-like behavior—forming collective, coherent, and self-organizing patterns. These emergent behaviors resemble some of the core features found in biological cognition: signal coherence, complex feedback, and adaptable phase transitions. While the brain is largely modeled as a classical system, there is a growing body of evidence pointing to nonlinear, possibly quantum-adjacent behaviors at sub-neural levels (e.g., quantum tunneling in biology).
This post is not claiming the brain is a quantum computer. Rather, I’m posing a question: If both light in a condensed phase and neural systems exhibit emergent coherence, could they share a deeper structural principle? And if so, could photonic liquids offer a viable substrate for AGI that more closely mirrors biological cognition than classical or quantum gate-based systems?
Core Premise: Photonic fluids—especially under Bose-Einstein-like conditions—show behaviors such as:
Collective interaction without direct contact
Stable, dynamic phase states
Nonlinear response to input
Persistence of information encoded in pattern rather than location
These traits begin to resemble neural network behavior—particularly the way brains maintain information and adapt to external stimuli through localized and distributed feedback.
The parallel I’m exploring is this:
Neural activity produces emergent cognition through classical (but nonlinear) physical systems
Photonic liquids also exhibit emergent coherence and collective behavior
Could a sufficiently structured photonic system replicate—or even exceed—biological cognition in terms of:
Speed (photons vs. electrical signals)
Stability (coherence without thermal degradation)
Emergence (non-programmed patterns arising from self-regulation)?
Relation to AI Alignment & Substrate Independence: AI alignment often assumes a digital or at most quantum-computational AGI. But what if the architecture matters more than we expect?
If cognition is an emergent property of system-level coherence, then exploring alternate physical substrates becomes more than engineering—it becomes part of the alignment conversation.
Could building AGI in a photonic system bring:
Better transparency of internal states (via phase-shift monitoring)?
Lower risk of unexpected inner optimizers (via physical constraints on coherence collapse)?
More brain-like cognition without biological messiness?
Why LessWrong Might Care: This touches on:
Substrate independence vs. substrate relevance in cognition
Quantum and non-quantum precursors to self-awareness
The physics of intelligence, not just its algorithms
Alignment grounded in embodiment, not just output prediction
This is not a fully developed theory—I am not a physicist. But it’s a framework I believe may deserve exploration by minds sharper than mine.
Potential Objections / Counterpoints:
“Brains aren’t quantum.” Correct. But that doesn’t preclude meaningful analogies between emergent phenomena in both classical and quantum-adjacent systems.
“Photonic computing is still mostly theoretical.” Yes, but so was silicon neuromorphic computing not long ago. This is a prompt for frontier thinking.
Closing Thought: If consciousness—or cognition—is less about the material and more about the pattern of coherence, then maybe the path to AGI isn’t just smarter models. Maybe it’s new mediums.
I’d love to hear thoughts, criticism, or leads from anyone working in photonics, emergent computation, or alignment strategy.
Could Photonic Liquids Offer an Alternative Substrate for Emergent Cognition and AGI?
Introduction:
Recent discoveries in quantum optics suggest that under the right conditions, photons can exhibit liquid-like behavior—forming collective, coherent, and self-organizing patterns. These emergent behaviors resemble some of the core features found in biological cognition: signal coherence, complex feedback, and adaptable phase transitions. While the brain is largely modeled as a classical system, there is a growing body of evidence pointing to nonlinear, possibly quantum-adjacent behaviors at sub-neural levels (e.g., quantum tunneling in biology).
This post is not claiming the brain is a quantum computer. Rather, I’m posing a question: If both light in a condensed phase and neural systems exhibit emergent coherence, could they share a deeper structural principle? And if so, could photonic liquids offer a viable substrate for AGI that more closely mirrors biological cognition than classical or quantum gate-based systems?
Core Premise:
Photonic fluids—especially under Bose-Einstein-like conditions—show behaviors such as:
Collective interaction without direct contact
Stable, dynamic phase states
Nonlinear response to input
Persistence of information encoded in pattern rather than location
These traits begin to resemble neural network behavior—particularly the way brains maintain information and adapt to external stimuli through localized and distributed feedback.
The parallel I’m exploring is this:
Neural activity produces emergent cognition through classical (but nonlinear) physical systems
Photonic liquids also exhibit emergent coherence and collective behavior
Could a sufficiently structured photonic system replicate—or even exceed—biological cognition in terms of:
Speed (photons vs. electrical signals)
Stability (coherence without thermal degradation)
Emergence (non-programmed patterns arising from self-regulation)?
Relation to AI Alignment & Substrate Independence:
AI alignment often assumes a digital or at most quantum-computational AGI. But what if the architecture matters more than we expect?
If cognition is an emergent property of system-level coherence, then exploring alternate physical substrates becomes more than engineering—it becomes part of the alignment conversation.
Could building AGI in a photonic system bring:
Better transparency of internal states (via phase-shift monitoring)?
Lower risk of unexpected inner optimizers (via physical constraints on coherence collapse)?
More brain-like cognition without biological messiness?
Why LessWrong Might Care:
This touches on:
Substrate independence vs. substrate relevance in cognition
Quantum and non-quantum precursors to self-awareness
The physics of intelligence, not just its algorithms
Alignment grounded in embodiment, not just output prediction
This is not a fully developed theory—I am not a physicist. But it’s a framework I believe may deserve exploration by minds sharper than mine.
Potential Objections / Counterpoints:
“Brains aren’t quantum.” Correct. But that doesn’t preclude meaningful analogies between emergent phenomena in both classical and quantum-adjacent systems.
“Photonic computing is still mostly theoretical.” Yes, but so was silicon neuromorphic computing not long ago. This is a prompt for frontier thinking.
Closing Thought:
If consciousness—or cognition—is less about the material and more about the pattern of coherence, then maybe the path to AGI isn’t just smarter models. Maybe it’s new mediums.
I’d love to hear thoughts, criticism, or leads from anyone working in photonics, emergent computation, or alignment strategy.