Quantum Mechanics and Consciousness

There are many different interpretations about how quantum mechanics and consciousness are related, but they fall into one of two categories:

1. consciousness is the cause of some physical or non-physical effect ("mind makes matter")
2. or consciousness is the effect of a quantum mechanical process ("matter makes mind").

The first category I call quantum-intentional interpretations. These interpretations include the many-worlds interpretation as well as the sort featured in this xkcd comic:

http://xkcd.com/1240/

The second category of ideas basically argues that consciousness can somehow be explained with a quantum mechanical understanding of the brain. Basically, the brain is in some way a quantum computer and this gives rise to consciousness in some way. This sort of interpretation is discussed quite well in a short question-answering blog entry on Scott Aaronson's blog.

Essentially, he cites a thought experiment by David Chalmers' and argues that quantum mechanics could not solve what is called the "Hard Problem of Consciousness". Aaronson then goes on to argue that, while there is no evidence to disprove the claim, there currently is no good reason to believe that our brains are quantum computers in any hugely significant way.