The universe may be conscious, say prominent scientists

PHILIP PERRY
25 June, 2017

Net of Being. Alex Grey.

A proto-consciousness field theory could replace the theory of dark matter, one
physicist states.
What consciousness is and where it emanates from has stymied great minds in
societies across the globe since the dawn of speculation. In today's world, it's a
realm tackled more and more by physicists, cognitive scientists, and
neuroscientists. There are a few prevailing theories. The first is materialism.
This is the notion that consciousness emanates from matter, in our case, by the
firing of neurons inside the brain.

Take the brain out of the equation and consciousness doesn't exist at all.
Traditionally, scientists have been stalwart materialists. But doing so has caused
them to slam up against the limitations of materialism. Consider the chasm between
relativity and quantum mechanics, or Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and you
quickly start to recognize these incongruities.

The second theory is mind-body dualism. This is perhaps more often recognized in
religion or spirituality. Here, consciousness is separate from matter. It is a part
of another aspect of the individual, which in religious terms we might call the
soul. Then there's a third option which is gaining ground in some scientific
circles, panpsychism. In this view, the entire universe is inhabited by
consciousness.

A handful of scientists are starting to warm to this theory, but it's still a
matter of great debate. Truth be told, panpsychism sounds very much like what the
Hindus and Buddhists call the Brahman, the tremendous universal Godhead of which we
are all a part. In Buddhism for instance, consciousness is the only thing that
exists.

Such is the focus of the famous Zen koan, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one
is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" One must come to the realization that
everything we experience is filtered through and interpreted by our mind. Without
it, the universe doesn't exist at all or at least, not without some sort of
consciousness observing it. In some physics circles, the prevailing theory is some
kind of proto-consciousness field.

Is consciousness derived from an invisible field that inhabits our universe? Getty
Images.

In quantum mechanics, particles don't have a definite shape or specific location,

until they are observed or measured. Is this a form of proto-consciousness at play?
According to the late scientist and philosopher, John Archibald Wheeler, it might.
He's famous for coining the term, "black hole." In his view, every piece of matter
contains a bit of consciousness, which it absorbs from this proto-consciousness
field.

He called his theory the “participatory anthropic principle," which posits that a
human observer is key to the process. Of this Wheeler said, “We are participators
in bringing into being not only the near and here but the far away and long ago."
In his view, much like the Buddhist one, nothing exists unless there is a
consciousness to apprehend it.

Neuroscientist Christof Koch of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, is another
supporter of panpsychism. Koch says that the only theory we have to date about
consciousness is, it's a level of awareness about one's self and the world.
Biological organisms are conscious because when they approach a new situation, they
can change their behavior in order to navigate it, in this view. Dr. Koch is
attempting to see if he can measure the level of consciousness an organism
contains.

He'll be running some animal experiments. In one, he plans to wire the brains of
two mice together. Will information eventually flow between the two? Will their
consciousness at some point become one fused, integrated system? If these
experiments are successful, he may wire up the brains of two humans.

U.K. physicist Sir Roger Penrose is yet another supporter of panpsychism. Penrose
in the 80's proposed that consciousness is present at the quantum level and resides
in the synapses of the brain. He is famous for linking consciousness with some of
the goings on in quantum mechanics.

Dr. Penrose doesn't go so far as to call himself a panpsychist. In his view, “The
laws of physics produce complex systems, and these complex systems lead to
consciousness, which then produces mathematics, which can then encode in a succinct
and inspiring way the very underlying laws of physics that gave rise to it."

In Buddhism consciousness emanates from the brain. Neuroscientists agree. Getty

Images.

Veteran physicist Gregory Matloff of the New York City College of Technology, says
he has some preliminary evidence showing that, at the very least, panpsychism isn't
impossible. Hey, it's a start. Dr. Matloff told NBC News, “It's all very
speculative, but it's something we can check and either validate or falsify."

Theoretical physicist Bernard Haisch, in 2006, suggested that consciousness is

produced and transmitted through the quantum vacuum, or empty space. Any system
that has sufficient complexity and creates a certain level of energy, could
generate or broadcast consciousness. Dr. Matloff got in touch with the unorthodox,
German physicist and proposed an observational study, to test it.

What they examined was Parenago's Discontinuity. This is the observation that
cooler stars, like our own sun, revolve around the center of the Milky Way faster
than hotter ones. Some scientists attribute this to interactions with gas clouds.
Matloff took a different view. He elaborated in a recently published piece, in the
Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research.

Unlike their hotter sisters, cooler stars may move faster due to “the emission of a
uni-directional jet." Such stars emit a jet early on in their creation. Matloff
suggests that this could be an instance of the star consciously manipulating
itself, in order to gain speed.

Observational data shows a reliable pattern anywhere Parenago's Discontinuity is

witnessed. If it were a matter of interacting with gas clouds, as is the current
theory, each cloud should have a different chemical makeup, and so cause the star
to operate differently. So why do all of them act in exactly the same way?

Jets out of cooler stars may be a conscious act. Wikipedia Commons.

Though it isn't much to go on, the unveiling of the European Space Agency's Gaia
space telescope, whose mission it is to map stars, may provide more data to further
support or weaken this view. On another front, Dr. Matloff posits that the presence
of a proto-consciousness field could serve as a replacement for dark matter.
Dark matter supposedly makes up around 95% of the universe, although, scientists
can't seem to find any. So, for the sake of argument, if consciousness is a
property that arises on the subatomic level with a confluence of particles, how do
these tiny little bits of consciousness coalesce?

Neuroscientist and psychiatrist Giulio Tononi, at the University of Wisconsin-

Madison, proposes a slightly different take on panpsychism, called integrated
information theory. Here, consciousness is a manifestation with a real, physical
location, somewhere in the universe. We just haven't found it yet. Perhaps this
heavenly body radiates out consciousness as our sun radiates light and heat.

Dr. Tononi has actually puts forth a metric for measuring how much consciousness a
thing has. The unit is called phi. This translates into how much control a being
can enact over itself or objects around it. The theory separates intelligence from
consciousness, which some people assume are one in the same.

Take AI for example. It can already beat humans in all kinds of tasks. But it has
no will of its own. A supercomputer which can enact change in the world outside of
a programmer's commands, would therefore be conscious. Many futurists from Ray
Kurzweil to Elon Musk believe that day is coming, perhaps in the next decade or so,
and that we should prepare.

To hear more of what Sir. Roger Penrose thinks on the matter of panpsychism, click
here:

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