On a Possible Physical Metatheory of Consciousness

Summary

Could consciousness be a fundamental aspect of the universe's physics? New insights suggest that modern quantum mechanics, specifically the theory of decoherence, allows for a physical framework where consciousness naturally emerges. This perspective, drawing on principles from quant-ph, proposes that consciousness has a definable physical origin, integrating it into a wider, even cosmological, physical picture. It's a compelling step towards understanding the mind-matter connection.

Abstract

We show that the modern quantum mechanics, and particularly the theory of decoherence, allows formulating a sort of a physical metatheory of consciousness. Particularly, the analysis of the necessary conditions for the occurrence of decoherence, along with the hypothesis that consciousness bears (more-or-less) well definable physical origin, leads to a wider physical picture naturally involving consciousness. This can be considered as a sort of a psycho-physical parallelism, but on very wide scales bearing some cosmological relevance.

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