The question of consciousness has been examined by philosophers and theologians for millennia; for the longest time, debating the nature of consciousness was the exclusive purview of philosophers. But recently a shift has taken place: scientists are getting into the game. Understandably, if science is to be at the cutting edge, it has to be about questions that no one is willing to ask. Has the nature of consciousness finally shifted from a philosophical question to a scientific one that can be solved by doing experiments? This presentation explores the eternal mystery of consciousness and soul with reference to various scientific disciplines like molecular biology, chemistry, neurobiology, quantum physics, and artificial intelligence. It examines whether consciousness is binary or on a gradation scale, and to what degree one becomes conscious. It explores materialism theory and its limitations, as well as Donald Hoffman’s paper suggesting that we may be thinking about it backward—that consciousness is fundamental to the universe and gives rise to the physical world and not the other way around. It examines the promises and limitations of panpsychism, a set of theories that believe that consciousness is an intrinsic property of all matter and experiments on plant consciousness. As we attempt to answer the second most important unanswered question of science, can we also answer the first most important question that science has yet to answer? The purpose of this presentation is to challenge and shake up our intuitions about consciousness and to explore the subject by questioning, observing, and wondering, and NOT concluding.

1. “Soul, Consciousness
and Science”
Compiled by Sudhir M. Shah

2. The question of consciousness
• The purview of religions and
philosophers
• Now Scientists are also getting into the
game.

3. I am often asked
• As a scientist, do you believe in the
existence of the soul?
• Is soul and consciousness the same thing?
• What is consciousness for, in the context
of evolution?

4. Purpose of this Session
• Challenge the intuition
• Ask questions
• Examine various perspectives
• Explore Ideas
…but not conclude
• You will still walk away with something of value

5. “When you conclude you stop learning”
“Inquiring mind is an intelligent mind”
“Observing without judging is the
highest form of intelligence”
-J Krishnamurti

6. Purview of Science
Science at the cutting edge is all
about asking questions that no one
is willing to ask
Challenging Intuition

7. Intuitions About Consciousness

8. Intuitions About Consciousness
• Behavior

9. Intuitions About Consciousness
• Subjective Experience

10. An organism is conscious if there is
something that it is like to be that
organism -Thomas Nagle
EXPERIENCE
Defining Consciousness

11. Soul and Consciousness
Eastern Philosophical Perspective
Consciousness(cetanā),
is the most fundamental and intrinsic feature
of the soul(Jivā)

12. Consciousness
Materialism Perspective
• According to philosophical materialism, mind
and consciousness are by-products of material
processes (such as the biochemistry of the
human brain and nervous system), without
which they cannot exist.
• Kinetic, genetic or neurochemical mechanisms

13. Challenging Intuition

14. Hard Question
• What is the biological bases of
consciousness?
• How does matter give us an experience?
Science has made no progress in answering what is
called the hard question

15. Kristoff Koch and Fransis Crit
•“integrated information theory”
•“causal power.”
•Measurements

16. Split Brain Research
Epileptic seizures
Identity
Interpreter Effect
Sense of Self

17. Spectrum or Binary
Level of Consciousness

18. Plants vs worms vs insects vs mammals vs humans
Level of Consciousness

19. • Cory Allan in Amazon rain
forest
• Susan Simard’s experiments
with Douglas Fir and Birch
• Mark Jaffe – Pea tendrils
Plant Consciousness

20. • Evolutionary Game Theory
• Fitness payoff
The Case Against Reality

21. Donald Hoffman
• Is it possible that we are thinking it
backwards,
• That consciousness is fundamental and
gives rise to the physical world?

22. Max Planck
“I regard consciousness
fundamental. I regard matter as a
derivative of consciousness”

23. Panpsychism
• A Category of theories that believe that
consciousness is a fundamental feature of
the universe

24. Combination Problem
• How does smaller points of
consciousness come to create a
larger consciousness

25. Rabbit Hole
•Our body is hardly our body
• Microbiome (Gut, Skin)
• Toxoplasma

26. Sense of Self
• Default Mode Network
• Meditation
• Psychedelics

27. Consciouness and Time
• Our conscious experience exists in time (Now
- present moment)
• Nima Arkanian Hemed –at fundamental level
there is not space or time.
• Carlo Rovelli – there is no such thing as time
- every moment exists simultaneously.

28. We scientists priding
ourselves on our objective
lens are still held prisoners by
our own cognitive biases.