That is not a typo although I did peel that off from the more well known closing salutation, "Eternally Yours", from many a-love-struck letter-writer pledging unwavering devotion. But this is much farther and deeper away from that because this is really about the "everlasting you" - a daring look into why some scientists and researchers think that consciousness, discreetly individualized or as a composite trait of all humanity, is fundamental to the entire universe; which begs the question, therefore, does our individual consciousness survive into eternity?
"Donald David Hoffman (born December 29, 1955) is an American cognitive psychologist and popular science author. He is a professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, and the School of Computer Science".
He has a PhD in computational psychology at MIT and at one time a research scientist on artificial intelligence there, which establishes that he is not some New Age philosopher or conjurer of outlandish metaphysical theories on the conscious and subconscious mind.
What sets him apart from the mainstream scientific academia is that he believes that consciousness is fundamental to the universe. He is not alone though there are far fewer of them relative to the majority of scientists. However, the concept is not exactly new because for centuries some notable historical figures, who were scientists and philosophers and religious leaders in the past, adhered to a similar concept - the idea of eternal life, which has long been the foundation of almost every religion from Buddhism to Islam to Christianity. But I am getting ahead of myself here. A few steps back first.
Scientists, medical doctors, neurologists, psychiatrists tell us that consciousness originates only from within each individual brain - soft tissues of neurons, nerves and the trillions of synapses that occur within the confines of the average three and a half pounds of gray matter. The brain dies and consciousness associated with that brain, and that brain alone, ceases to exist.
Except for the truly non-believer in anything non-physical, and those un-swayed by anything spiritual, or who've unsubscribed to any faith, most people from various cultural upbringings believe that in the aftermath of death, there is something that goes on beyond. But every believer is stuck with the fact that we have yet to see or witness beyond any doubt the existence of consciousness after death, particularly in a laboratory setting with conclusive repeatable recurrences. However, and this is a huge "however", Hoffman and others like him believe that no one has come up with a compelling argument to the contrary, either. Though proving the negative is not logically proper.
For many decades scientists relied on theories and suppositions that they believed with strong convictions, based only on mathematical equations, but without physical proof or effects until much, much later. Gravity is a good example. For a long time, scientists either believed or doubted Einstein's predictions on Gravity's ability to bend light, or affect the passage of time. It was over a century later when sensitive and super accurate measuring instruments became available that proved the theories right.
We will not get into the weeds too much, except perhaps for just a bit, and you may skim through the next long paragraph below and not miss anything. The last third of this essay is where, I hope, we can get to the essence of why consciousness is indeed fundamental.
Now, to say that consciousness is fundamental in or to the entire universe is no trivial declaration. Why? The so called Standard Model of everything that we know, so far, says that there are only four fundamental forces in the entire universe and that there are only 120 basic elements in existence, as graphically printed on the Periodic Table. These elements, of course, may be combined, mixed and matched, into complex compounds that make up everything we can touch or see. From the lightest of them all - the hydrogen atom with its one proton and one electron to the heaviest in terms of density, osmium and iridium, these were accepted fundamental elements long before we had proof of electrons and way long before the Large Hadron Collider was built to show us evidence of the existence of sub-atomic particles. Scientists believed in quarks when they were mere speculations. The Higgs boson, first postulated in the sixties, suspected to exist theoretically, was not confirmed until 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider. It was a sensational scientific event because this sub-atomic particle is the carrier of mass.
Now, take the fundamental forces of gravity, electromagnetism (light, all radiation and magnetism), the strong and weak nuclear forces. Those are fundamental, now very much beyond any doubt, and to lump consciousness with them as fundamental too is earth shaking, to say the least!
So, let's dive into it.
Consciousness, in case you have not thought of it in one particular way, is our only path to reality. But wait! What is reality?
"Perception of the physical world is a byproduct of consciousness".
First question: How can consciousness, in all its non-physical, invisible, imaginary nature, come out of some physical objects, such as a lump of moist gray substance that is our brain?
A piece of rock or iron has no sense of perception nor the ability to feel emotions. They are inanimate objects and are called non-sentient matter. Puppies and kittens are capable of sensing pain, hunger, the environment, hot or cold, wet or dry, but they do not have emotions; at least not the kind of emotions that we feel. So, puppies and kittens are loosely sentient for being able to have impressions, feelings and senses but not to the same level as we are able to feel, such as sympathy, sorrow, grief, kindness, love, jealousy, etc.
Strictly speaking, therefore, we can claim to be the only truly sentient beings. Philosophers subscribe to the idea that the universe exists the way it is because there are conscious beings, like us, to observe it. To the bees who "see" in the ultra violet spectrum, dogs that are color blind that only see in black and gray but can distinguish with super sensitive senses of smell, dolphins and bats navigate thru sonar, and snakes that can detect in infrared or sample the air with their tongue their version of the universe is completely different from ours. The reality of our universe is created in so many different ways.
The question then is, "How and why are we able to emerge from purely non-sentient body that is made from non-sentient material?" Our bones, muscles, even nerves and skin are independently non-sentient body parts, including our brains. Yet, we are capable of not just sensing what is truly non-physical and independently but invisibly imperceptible to others, and furthermore we feel myriad shades of emotions from physical body parts, specifically concentrated within that mass of gray cells encased in the skeletal cranium, but discreetly our own, and our own only.
How can something that is without form, mass, weight and color, does not emit light or radiation nor does it occupy space, emerge from inanimate components that rely on inanimate sustenance like food and water, minerals and vitamins, etc., but will cease to exist once denied of those? Of course, the immediate response is that why are computers able to do calculations and so many other things we are not capable of doing mentally but cease to function once unplugged. Lest we forget, computers do nothing but abide by and do nothing more than follow the algorithms specific only to the functions they were designed for, created by humans. We label computer generated capacity to calculate and "think" as artificial intelligence (AI). Where then does our own individual intelligence come from?
More importantly, no one can explain the process by which we are able to feel and convey love, hate, happiness, worry, sympathy, conscience, guilt, and so many other unquantifiable qualities. How do we know animals don't experience any of those? We don't, but if they do they must go through the same processes as we do to derive those qualities. But we are the only ones capable of complex thought and conveying those thoughts, like putting them down in an essay like this and you reading and critiquing it from your own individual perspective and nuanced ideas truly and discretely your own.
Going back to Dave Hoffman's conjecture that consciousness is fundamental to the universe, one profound question then is, "How does consciousness manage to not only manifest itself in every individual but how does it manage to survive after death, if at all, and move about from and to wherever?"
We do not know. But since we did not see proof of electrons, all the other sub-atomic particles, the special and relative effects of gravity, etc., until much later, then should we not consider that someday we will actually see evidence of the origins of and processes of consciousness? And, dare we say, incontrovertible proof of the everlasting existence of the soul?
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