Consciousness as a fundamental force

Fundamental force

Last time I asked if there was any real difference between advanced AI and human consciousness. Not withstanding the everlasting debate on what human consciousness actually is!

 Almost straight away it came to my attention that a physicist has proposed a radical new theory of consciousness. This one can even finally explain what happens when you die. 

Consciousness does not emerge from human brains, according to Professor Maria Strømme, a professor of nanotechnology at Uppsala University.

Instead, she claims that it exists as a fundamental field - a 'building block' of the universe.

If this is correct, 'mysterious' phenomena such as telepathy, near–death experiences, and even life after death could finally be explained by science.  

According to Professor Strømme's theory, consciousness does not end when we die.

 She thinks Instead, when a person passes away, their consciousness simply returns to the background field. The study of consciousness is no longer a question for philosophy, it is a question for science. Consciousness may be a fundamental force of the universe.

This, of course, tunes into what many of us have suspected. Although it does generate another strange question. Does this force of consciousness only reside in biological beings? Or is it in every particle of the universe, the theory known as panpsychism ? If so then could advanced machine intelligence be conscious after all. What do you think?

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