Higher Valuations and Higher Consciousness

Quantum Consciousness Dispatch #4

October 17, 2025

It’s no AI, but the quantum technology sector is generating some interesting news these days. I spent some time from 2021 to 2023 trying to make the case that quantum theory and technology was supporting some ideas around an emerging higher circuit or stage of consciousness (in the models of Leary and other developmental psychologists.)

Dispatch #1 Scientific Progress on Cyber-Atomics in the Leary-Wilson 8-Circuit Model

Dispatch #2 Quantum Tech: Research Developments Toward Quantum Consciousness

Dispatch #3 Unlocking the Eighth Circuit of Consciousness in Theory and Practice

In this dispatch, I am just recording some interesting developments being reported by companies that are experiencing a kind of gold rush (on a much smaller scale than AI, but also with perhaps not as large of a financial bubble.) These companies, after several rounds of significant financial fundraising in the last couple of years, are now announcing progress on multiple fronts as they are under some pressure to justify their current high levels of valuation. Like anywhere in the financial world, one should parse such announcements carefully for how they justify valuation, but my bar is much lower — they just have to show experimental results that may bear on how consciousness might exist or behave at the quantum level, opening the possibility of augmentation of consciousness.

And so, some experimental elements that I look for with this perspective include:

Tools for manipulation and transmission of matter at the quantum or sub-atomic level.

Manipulation of sub-atomic structures in the brain.

Manipulation in wet, noisy, warm organic environment (most quantum tech is supercooled, fractions of a degree above absolute zero.)

Proofs of quantum theory predictions such as non-locality, sub-atomic signaling, etc., that also have implications for broader definitions of “higher” consciousness.

Collectivity or co-mingling of individual consciousnesses

And remembering in this investigation that most quantum companies are start-ups under pressure to deliver improved products within telecommunications, security and encryption, and medicine. I’m trying to understand the underlying advances in the technology that could then have applicability in studies of consciousness.

One thing in the way of a disclosure — I have actually invested a very small percentage of my savings into an EFT with holdings in the quantum space. It’s at a record high for the year, but what stock isn’t? Rigetti, IonQ and D-Wave are three of their top ten holdings, but Nvidia and other high-flyers are in there too, and have sky high valuations these days for different reasons than quantum technology per se.

Sensory Enhancement

So, starting with IonQ, which acquired a “quantum sensing” company named Vector Atomic. This caught my attention that it might be about the 5 human senses. However, it is actually about sensors that detect fluctuations in gravitational fields (!) that are better able to uncover oil, gas and rare earth elements. Impressive, but not exactly what I’m looking for.

Biological Environment

More on point, here is a University of Chicago demonstration of a method to turn a protein found in living cells into a functioning quantum bit (qubit) which can be used as a quantum sensor”. And while there are other techniques for creating qubits, the ability of protein-based qubits “to be genetically encoded into living systems enables a distinct set of applications.” In terms of instantiating 8th circuit theory, this looks like a giant step to me.

Brain Computer Interfaces

Here’s another case where the quantum rubber meets the neural road so to speak, albeit via the intermediary of a brain-computer interface (BCI), an area I’ve explored here and here, and have worked to create some level of standardization of what consumer-priced BCI devices can deliver.

An interesting start-up called Neuroba is taking on the challenge of bridging BCI technology to quantum technology. In a white paper released in June 2025, Neuroba states “our mission is to bridge the gap between technology and consciousness. The company claims to integrate AI systems to “read and respond to brain activity with personalized feedback.

Full disclosure, I’m a skeptic of these kinds of AI claims. Nevertheless, Neuroba asserts that quantum-enhanced neural computing accelerates AI training processes.

Elsewhere, it states “By combining AI’s signal interpretation with quantum-secure communication, may soon allow users to share thoughts, emotions or intentions without speech.” Their latest blog post talks a good game about “Entanglement Link Management and Qubit Teleportation Framework, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting their promised technical white papers. Much of the literature I’ve found to date is about using quantum computers to deal with lack of EEG granularity through better processing, but again, not the quantum activity within the brain itself.

Faster Than Light Communication and Teleportation via Quantum Entanglement

Researchers in China recently published research on so called “quantum teleportation,” which leverages the quantum principle of entanglement (particles that interact remain connected despite traveling apart in space. One article defines it as “Quantum teleportation is a fascinating process that involves transferring a particle’s quantum state to another distant location, without moving or detecting the particle itself.” So, the work is aimed at a quantum internet that is more efficient and secure, but I’m sure we’re all thinking “beam me up Scotty.”

Biological Environment

More on point, here is a University of Chicago demonstration of a method to turn a protein found in living cells into a functioning quantum bit (qubit) which can be used as a quantum sensor”. And while there are other techniques for creating qubits, the ability of protein-based qubits “to be genetically encoded into living systems enables a distinct set of applications.” In terms of instantiating 8th circuit theory, this looks like a giant step to me.

Brain Computer Interfaces

Here’s another case where the quantum rubber meets the neural road so to speak, albeit via the intermediary of a brain-computer interface (BCI), an area I’ve explored here, and have worked to create some level of standardization of what consumer-priced BCI devices can deliver.

An interesting start-up called Neuroba is taking on the challenge of bridging BCI technology to quantum technology. In a white paper released in June 2025, Neuroba states “our mission is to bridge the gap between technology and consciousness. The company claims to integrate AI systems to “read and respond to brain activity with personalized feedback.

Full disclosure, I’m a skeptic of these kinds of AI claims. Nevertheless, Neuroba asserts that quantum-enhanced neural computing accelerates AI training processes.

Elsewhere, it states “By combining AI’s signal interpretation with quantum-secure communication, may soon allow users to share thoughts, emotions or intentions without speech.” Their latest blog post talks a good game about “Entanglement Link Management and Qubit Teleportation Framework, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting their promised technical white papers. Much of the literature I’ve found to date is about using quantum computers to deal with lack of EEG granularity through better processing, but again, not the quantum activity within the brain itself.

Faster Than Light Communication and Teleportation via Quantum Entanglement

Researchers in China recently published research on so called “quantum teleportation,” which leverages the quantum principle of entanglement (particles that interact remain connected despite traveling apart in space. One article defines it as “Quantum teleportation is a fascinating process that involves transferring a particle’s quantum state to another distant location, without moving or detecting the particle itself.” So, the work is aimed at a quantum internet that is more efficient and secure, but I’m sure we’re all thinking “beam me up Scotty.”

Afterword: Quantum Computing Scorecards

Tracking advances in quantum technology is very difficult for even the educated or motivated layperson. Here are some interesting resources (mostly not free!)

*Quantum Benchmarking Initiative — DARPA has selected 18 quantum companies for the first phase of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. The candidates will undergo technical validation, research plan reviews, and independent hardware testing.*

The Quantum Computing Report offers subscriptions to several benchmarks:

*Qubit Implementation Dashboard*

Qubit Count — Latest status on qubit count implementations from various organizations.

*Qubit Quality — A comparison of certain quality parameters for different implementations.*

Trippy Afterword

Many consciousness explorers feel a sense of wonder at the spaces they have explored, and experience difficulty translating them into English. So in that sense, we seem to be at home with the trippy language that quantum physicists seem to use.

I was struck this way by some passages in this article, see bolded phrases:

A collaborative team from JPMorganChase, Quantinuum, multiple national labs, and UT Austin demonstrated a certified randomness protocol using a quantum computer, marking a major milestone for real-world quantum applications. Randomness has many industrial uses, from solving complex mathematical problems to essential applications in areas such as cryptography, fairness and privacy. The group conducted the first successful demonstration of a novel quantum computing protocol to generate Certified Randomness. The researchers leveraged a task originally designed to demonstrate quantum advantage, called Random Circuit Sampling (RCS), to perform a certified-randomness-expansion protocol, which outputs more randomness than it takes as input. This task is unachievable by classical computation.

Certified randomness was validated using over 1.1 exaflops of classical computing power, confirming the quantum system’s ability to generate entropy beyond classical reach.

And this one, from the Santa Fe Institute:

Assembly theory reintroduces an expanding, moving sense of time to physics by showing how its passing is the stuff complex objects are made of: the size of the future increases with complexity.