Crystalline Minds

Could Consciousness Emerge from Quantum Coherence in Natural Mineral Lattices?

For centuries, we’ve assumed that consciousness requires flesh, or at the very least, carbon. Even our most speculative frameworks, from brain simulations to alien intelligence, typically revolve around neurons, wet chemistry, or silicon processors. But what if this assumption is too narrow?

What if consciousness, or something disturbingly like it, could emerge from minerals?

More precisely: could certain natural crystal structures, due to their quantum properties, internal coherence, and nonlinear feedback loops, support primitive or alien forms of awareness? The question sounds fantastical, but it touches on serious frontiers in mineral physics, condensed matter, and quantum information science. And it's not without precedent.

After all, the brain may not be as different from a mineral as we think.