This theory posits that our lives don't *create* subjective experiences (qualia). Instead, our lives are the emergent result of a fundamental consciousness cycling through a sequence of possible qualia, dictated by probabilistic, Markovian rules.
Within the consciousness-as-fundamental model, dark matter and energy aren't mysterious substances. They are the observable effects inside our space-time "headset" caused by countless other conscious agent interactions and qualia states that are "dark" to us—they influence our reality but are not projected into it.
In a reality where spacetime is not fundamental, physical objects like neurons are merely "rendered" upon observation. Therefore, neurons cannot be the fundamental creator of consciousness because they don't exist independently until an observer interacts with them.
The core argument of panpsychism is that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe, not an emergent one that requires complexity. In this view, complex systems like the brain don't generate consciousness from scratch; they simply organize fundamental consciousness in a way that allows for sophisticated behaviors like memory and self-awareness.
Evolution by natural selection is not a theory of how consciousness arose from matter. Instead, it's a theory that explains *why our interface is the way it is*. Our perceptions were shaped by fitness payoffs to help us survive *within the simulation*, not to perceive truth outside of it. The theory is valid, but its domain is the interface.
Consciousness isn't an emergent property of computation. Instead, physical systems like brains—or potentially AI—act as interfaces. Creating a conscious AI isn't about birthing a new awareness from silicon, but about engineering a system that opens a new "portal" into the fundamental network of conscious agents that already exists outside spacetime.
The simulation of space-time and its physical laws are not arbitrary; they are essential constraints. These rules create the context required for consciousness to explore its possibilities and for subjective experiences (qualia) to become meaningful. Without limitations, there is no context for feeling.
The fundamental dynamics of consciousness may be timeless, without increasing entropy. Our linear experience of time is an emergent property created by the loss of information when that timeless reality is projected into our limited human interface.
The process of an AI like Stable Diffusion creating a coherent image by finding patterns within a vast possibility space of random noise serves as a powerful analogy. It illustrates how consciousness might render a structured reality by selecting and solidifying possibilities from an infinite field of potential experiences.
Since math describes the structure of consciousness, and Gödel's theorem proves math is infinitely explorable, consciousness itself must be engaged in a never-ending exploration of its own possibilities. This provides a fundamental "why" for existence, replacing biological drives that only exist within our perceptual "headset."
Hoffman's model proposes that consciousness is not a product of the physical brain within space-time. Instead, consciousness is the fundamental building block of all existence, and space-time itself is an emergent phenomenon—a "headset" or user interface—that is created by and within consciousness.