Panpsychism and the Proof of Fundamental Consciousness
How the illusion of reality proves that we’re all part of the same consciousness.
Part 1: What is the nature of reality?
We’re using a third of our brain’s cortex for vision. Whenever we look around the world, billions of neurons and trillions of synapses are engaged. Which is surprising because we tend to think about vision as if our eyes were as simple as a camera. As if they were merely lenses with photoreceptors that let the light in and capture an objective reality. So what’s the huge processing power behind it? Well, neuroscientists have realized that when we look at something, we are doing more than just seeing — our brains create what we see in real time. We’re not just taking snapshots, we’re constructing reality in every second of our lives.
So the question is why? It’s not that we’re not advanced enough to see unfiltered reality, after all we are dedicating a tremendous amount of processing power to go the extra mile in purposefully hiding it. The answer lies in the theory of evolution. Does natural selection even favor seeing reality as it is?
Since evolution is a mathematically precise theory, it can be tested. Our current supercomputers have more than enough processing capability to create simulations of artificial worlds, fill them with various simulated organisms, and let them compete for survival. Professors at the University of California ran hundreds of these evolutionary games, where they filled artificial worlds with various species, with different perceptions of reality, to see which ones will thrive and which ones will annihilate. Turns out, there’s more to the phrase “Survival of the fittest.”
First, the researchers studied two different types of creatures competing for survival. One of these creatures could see all of objective reality, while the other could only see things that were important for its survival. The results were clear. Creatures with unfiltered perceptions of reality went extinct in every single simulation, and the ones that were fine tuned for fitness thrived.
Therefore it is proven that natural selection does not favor accurate perception of reality. Not seeing the world fully is an evolutionary advantage. So the theory of evolution presents us with the ultimate dare; Are we brave enough to recognize that our perception is not about seeing the absolute truth, but simply about staying alive long enough to make kids and further our species?
Think of it this way; The way you see the world is similar to a computer’s operational system. The wires, the circuit boards, the ones and zeroes are all hidden under a nice cover. And the way you interact with them is through a simplified, visual interface, fine tuned for your needs and understanding. That’s what our perception of reality is. The human brain hides the complexities, and gives us a simple interface. We’re blind to our own blindnesses.
The question is just how blind? Now that it’s proven that we’re seeing at least a somewhat false reality, let’s see how deep the rabbit hole actually goes.
When we see a red apple, our brain is creating a picture of that apple. But how much of what we see actually exist in space and time? Where does base reality end and where does the illusion start? Or in other words; how much of that apple actually exist?
To test that, the scientists at the University of California repeated their evolutionary simulations, but this time, they introduced another variable. Now they had three creatures competing in a simulated world. One that sees all of objective reality, one that sees a partial reality, and one that sees nothing else than what’s needed for survival. The results were clear again. Evolution doesn’t just favor a somewhat false perception of reality, it favors the organism that sees almost none of it.
So most likely the apple that we see is not just a partial illusion. It’s largely an illusion. It doesn’t mean that there’s no physical reality, but it seems undeniable that there’s a fundamental flaw in our perception of our world, and the way we relate to it. The apple as we see it is merely an icon on our computer’s desktop, representing something deeper and more complicated that we don’t have direct access to. And our current understanding of the world, which is deeply rooted in a four dimensional space-time model has been wrong from the start.
It’s not like we haven’t been completely wrong about the fundamentals of our reality before. We used to think the Earth was flat. Then we thought the Earth was at the center of the Universe. Now it’s time to rethink reality once more, because it’s clear that so far we’ve only scratched the surface.
But the results of these experiments leave us with one gaping hole in their logic. Let’s agree that when you see a red apple, it is somewhat an illusion. But then how can everyone else have that same illusion too? In other words, since we’re all seeing the same things, how can we all share the same illusion?
Either we deny the findings of the simulations and hold on to the idea that our perception of reality is flawless, or, we have to explain why we all have mutual illusions. And for that, we have to look at reality from the perspective of consciousness.
Part 2: What is the nature of consciousness?
If you ask people where consciousness comes from, they’ll point at the brain every single time, and there is absolutely no doubt that it is involved in consciousness. Activity in the brain is associated with seeing, hearing, smelling, sensing, and thinking, and if we damage the brain in certain ways, people are no longer conscious. Therefore the mainstream, most accepted theory of consciousness is that the brain produces it. But in reality we don’t have any substantial evidence to support it.
What we do know is that the brain is like a computer network; receiving, processing, and passing along information. We’ve observed and studied those processes expansively. Technically it’s a 3-pound piece of jelly, filled with neurons, synapses, blood vessels, connective tissue..etc. But how does this piece of jelly create a sense of self, a personality, and an awareness of its own existence? This is the mind-body connection, and that’s why consciousness is considered the greatest mystery of the universe. Despite centuries of philosophy and scientific research being devoted to this question, we are nowhere near solving it.
So let’s go back to our mutual illusions.
We’ve established that we don’t see objective reality, and that our brain creates a simplified visual interface best suited for our survival. So why do we all share the same illusion? If we’re all individual, conscious beings, creating our own perception of reality, shouldn’t we each experience it in a somewhat different, separate ways? Why can we all agree that the apple is red, when there might not even be an apple at all?
To answer that, let’s look at the brain in a different way. We tend to think of it as an all powerful, almost godly machine, that miraculously creates a ‘self’. But what if it’s not the source of consciousness, but a receiver of it? What if consciousness is not a uniquely human experience, and the brain is not producing it at all? What if consciousness is a fundamental property of the Universe and our brain is merely a conduit?
At first, this might sound far-fetched, and overtly spiritual, but it actually offers an elegant solution to many problems which are difficult to explain using the standard scientific models.
So let’s unpack it.
We already know of fundamental forces that are intrinsic to the universe and present at all scales. In fact, for one of them, it was also a red apple that gave its secret away. Gravity is present everywhere in the universe and affects everything with mass or energy everywhere in the universe. Chances are, consciousness might be something similar. We’ve just looked at it the wrong way all along.
Consciousness being fundamental would theorize that it’s the literal fabric of the universe — an omnipresent element of the universe, akin to a universal energy field. And the human brain is a mere receiver that picks up its energy to carve out for itself an individual conscious being — a self. Or to put it in a different context; think of consciousness as electricity, and the brain as an electronic device. The brain doesn’t create consciousness any more than a television creates the electricity that powers it. Instead, the brain, with its complex networks and structures, acts as a receiver or a transducer. It ‘taps into’ this omnipresent consciousness field and channels it, converting this fundamental energy into the rich and varied experiences of our subjective reality.
But thinking of consciousness this way leads to an interesting question. If it’s a fundamental force that permeates the universe, does this mean that literally everything is conscious? Even blades of grass have personalities and self-awareness? Well, it’s only partially laughable. We do have sufficient evidence that even grass responds to stimuli, communicate, and some plants can even form memories. And in the case of the Venus flytrap, they exhibit behaviors that suggest a form of decision-making too. But of course whatever their experience of the world is, it’s safe to say that it’s nothing like ours.
So let’s go back to the electricity parallel. Just as different electrical devices utilize electricity in different ways (based on their design and complexity) different organisms experience consciousness differently as well. The most basic example that a fridge and a microwave both work with electricity but their design utilizes it in very different ways, for very different purposes. So for simple organisms like insects or plants, the reception and processing of the consciousness energy is rudimentary, leading to basic, non-self-aware forms of consciousness. But when it comes to the human brain, with its extraordinary complexity and advanced neural architecture, we can experience consciousness with much greater intensity and depth, allowing us to have a more expansive and self-reflective conscious experience.
This is what scientists call panpsychism and it’s the simplest, most elegant solution to the mind-body problem. And it inherently answers the problem of the mutual illusion as well. If reality is a partial illusion, yet we all share that same illusion, then the only reasonable explanation is that our consciousness is in fact interconnected in some deeper way. Or in other words; we’re all part of a singular, universal consciousness, sharing a mutual illusion of reality.
However, this sets the alarms off, because we each have a very unique individual experience that’s hard to deny. And after all, losing grasp on reality is one thing, but losing our identity is even harder to digest. But this proposal doesn’t have to be scary. In fact, it can be reassuring to consider that we’re not going to simply disappear into nothingness when the lights go off.
Think of your individual lives as a bubbles in a bathtub. Each bubble is unique in its shape, size, and journey on the water. They exist independently for a time, floating and interacting with their surroundings, much like individuals living their separate lives. But the bubbles were formed from the same soapy water, and when they burst, they dissolve back into the bathwater. Similarly, the individual ‘self’ that the brain constructs has a temporary dream of being a person, and when we die we simply dissolve back into the fundamental consciousness.
And the interesting thing is that there is a wealth of collective knowledge that supports this so-called panpsychist thesis, making us feel like we’re watching puzzle pieces falling into place.
Buddhists believe in showing kindness to all living beings, from the smallest ant to the largest animal, because they see every conscious creature as interconnected on a deeper level. Psychedelic experiences provide a feeling of ego dissolution, resulting in a feeling of oneness with the universe and an enhanced sense of unity with all forms of life. And the DMT experience, considered as the most powerful psychedelic experience known to man, may even provide an insight into what base reality is. Users of this compound frequently report seeing complex, symmetrical, and interlocking patterns (fractals) which they believe to be fundamental structures of reality. Interestingly, DMT is naturally produced in the human brain, but we also produce an enzyme called monoamine oxidase (MAO) that quickly breaks it down, preventing it from exerting a significant psychoactive effect under normal conditions.
It’s almost as if our bodies are trying to conceal something from us…
While we still only scratch the surface, it seems clear that the true nature of reality is not the grand stage of the four dimensions of space and time. Rather, it’s a simplified interface, and we’re merely conscious agents of an omnipresent universal force that hides a more complex reality in plain sight. Or the way, the fantastic Carl Sagan put it:
”We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us.”
