Cognition 2.0

The source of consciousness poses several meta-physical questions:

• Is consciousness a derivative of the evolution of the expanding universe? This means that the source of human consciousness is a by-product or shares its origin with the origin of the universe, and hence with the origin of brains.
• Is consciousness a derivative of a separate field? What this means is that anything with certain properties could interact with that field, such as life.

The above questions are not easy ones, however there is something intriguing and fascinating about them, namely the fact that consciousness, the universe, and life, or human life at least, are all interrelated. The universe through its evolution has given birth to the living process as we know it here on earth. The likelihood that there are other living processes in effect in other realms of the universe are still unknown, but probabilities are that there are other planets or regions in space that could host life as we have it here in the solar system at a minimum. If life is a result of the natural evolution of the universe, then consciousness could be a process similar to life, i.e. an evolutionary step of the universe. Evolution then is the path on which matter, life, and consciousness are natural manifestations of an underlying process that was unleashed and is still operating in the background as the universe ages.

If consciousness were not an evolutionary step of the universe, i.e. if we make the assumption that consciousness can appear on even a static universe, and that consciousness consequently doesn't necessarily follow the appearance of life, then it is a different process that associates itself with living organisms and potentially other systems as well. This would mean that consciousness is a separate process that operates and is in effect at all times, independent of matter and the rest of the forces in nature. It would somehow resemble a field that permeates the known universe and that controls a specific type of interaction, the same way as we say that the electromagnetic field controls or participates in interactions between electrically charged particles.

Unfortunately, there are no instruments or technologies available yet to measure consciousness. If that were possible, we would be able to see if consciousness is present in different regions of the universe, or at least in different regions of the solar system, and also if there are changes in consciousness over time. This latter would help us determine the rate of change and correlate it to the evolutionary universe, which in turn would allow us to determine if we are in scenario number 1 above.

On the other hand, the only instrument we have to measure consciousness are our own brains, or rather our individual conscious experience. We are witnesses of our personal changes and ontology as far as awareness and consciousness are concerned. The problem of using our brains as instruments for measuring consciousness is that it only applies to one individual at any given time. I cannot use my conscious experience and my brain to investigate somebody else's consciousness and compare directly and objectively with mine or anybody else's. However, and this is something that captured my interest from reading the Dalai Lama's book "The Universe in a Single Atom", there is a Buddhist tradition and methodology for doing first person research about consciousness and provide feedback about it using practices such as meditation and other mental exercises. It was illuminating to be presented with the cognitive correlation between scientific method and its discoveries with the first person method and discoveries in the realm of cognitive structure and conscious experience in Buddhism.

In essence, exploration of the universe and exploration of consciousness yield very analogous results. The properties of reality we discover using science can be mapped to the properties of consciousness realized using introspection and first person analysis. The origin of reality then has a relation to the origin of consciousness and vice versa. There is a reflexive relationship between reality and consciousness and hence, there are interactions going in both directions, i.e. causal chains between reality and consciousness. These causal chains are responsible for such phenomena as knowledge acquisition, learning, language, etc. but they are also linked to technology, science, and even the effects of "self fulfilling prophecies".

Based on the above paragraphs, the question regarding the source of consciousness is debatable between two possible candidates: our brains (aka a natural step in the evolutionary universe) or an external field (aka a separate natural force that includes only certain types of objects in the universe, such as our brains). What is your pick?