Volume 16 No 11 (2018)
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A Physical Biology, the Electron Neutrino Mass, and the role of Quantum Mechanics in Nature
Maurice Goodman
Abstract
In science we need to remove physics and earth science from the fundamental natural sciences and treat Biology as
a fundamental natural (physical) science. Attempts to keep Biology autonomous because it is holistic, from the
physical sciences, are just disguised anthropocentrism. Physical sciences have holistic features also. The autonomy
of Biology is at odds with a holistic, integrated science and is preventing progress in science. For example, every cell
needs a ‘global’ communication system to keep order and stability with rapid information transfer across cellular
scales. We have yet to figure out how this is achieved. Over the last 30 years, we have understood that quantum
mechanics is about information, mostly. However, we do not have a clear understanding of the physical significance
of quantum mechanics in nature. Also, the view that quantum mechanics is restricted to the atomic and molecular
scale is mistaken and a direct result of the mass of the electron being so big. In 1988 the mass of the electron
neutrino was predicted to lie between 0.5 and 0.05 eV/c2 and to have a key role in Biology. This would allow
quantum mechanical processes on a cellular and intercellular scale and provide a possible basis for a ‘global’
information system in the cell and an understanding of the information role of quantum mechanics in nature.
Recent non-results, on the electron neutrino mass, from the KATRIN experiment are pushing the upper limit of the
electron neutrino mass to less than 0.5 eV/c2 making the prediction of 30 years ago more likely
Keywords
Natural Science, Holism, Biological Cell, Quantum Communication, Quantum Information, Electron Neutrino
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