“Measurement” as a neurophysical process: a hypothetical linear and deterministic scenario

Tunnel amplitudes of molecular configurations (like neuronal channel pores) may be very sensitive to thermal vibrations of the barrier width (vibration-assisted tunneling) resulting in pseudo-random spikes of widely varying sizes. An observer who “lives” behind the barrier would experience as an “event” an accidental minimum of the barrier width, the timing being determined by the microstate of the neuron’s heat bath. In two neurons, set to detect a “left” or “right” state of an object, firing amplitudes typically differ so much as to produce a quasi-selection of one option.