  I review the dissipative quantum model of brain and discuss its recent
developments related with the role of entanglement, quantum noise and chaos.
Some comments on consciousness in the frame of the dissipative model are also
presented. Dissipation seems to account for the medial character of
consciousness, for its being in the present (the Now), its un-dividable unity,
its intrinsic subjectivity (autonomy). Finally, essential features of a
conscious artificial device, if ever one can construct it, are briefly
commented upon, also in relation to a device able to exhibit mistakes in its
behavior. The name I give to such a hypothetical device is Spartacus.
