Quote:CPU inventor and physicist Federico Faggin, together with Prof. Giacomo Mauro D'Ariano, proposes that consciousness is not an emergent property of the brain, but a fundamental aspect of reality itself: quantum fields are conscious and have free will. In this theory, our physical body is a quantum-classical ‘machine,’ operated by free will decisions of quantum fields. Faggin calls the theory 'Quantum Information Panpsychism' (QIP) and claims that it can give us testable predictions in the near future. If the theory is correct, it not only will be the most accurate theory of consciousness, it will also solve mysteries around the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
"Hard Problem and Free Will: an information-theoretical approach," Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.06580
Federico's book "Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature" can be ordered here: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/es...
Our previous videos with Federico Faggin:
• Groundbreaking Consciousness Theory B...
00:00 Intro
03:20 Federico's Personal Experience
09:03 The New Theory: Biology vs Computers
21:05 What is a particle?
22:11 The Quantum vs the Classical world
33:48 Can we explain quantum mechanics in a materialist worldview?
36:48 Free will an illusion? Why do we ask this question?
40:32 Joining Science & Spirituality
45:19 Reflections on Donald Hoffmanns Theory
47:40 Will You Prove This?
51:04 Will Al Be Better Than Us?
54:10 Where Could This Theory Lead Us?
57:34 If We Are All One, How Does Seperation Work?
1:03:10 What Happens When We Die?
1:11:26 How Quantum Information Panpsychism Is Fundamentally Different Then Classical Panpsychism
1:13:07 Is there An End-Point To The Universe?
1:13:55 Why Is Space Expanding Exponentially?
1:15:41 Resonance & Purpose
Copyright © 2024-2025 by Essentia Foundation. All rights reserved.
Some interesting stuff in the interview, though flipping through the paper I fear my mathematical skills are too rusty to really evaluate. I did appreciate Faggin brought up some things that tied to some recent discussions here:
The idea of a Seity - an irreducible, immortal field of consciousness - seems very much akin to the ideas of Sheldrake & Fox mentioned here.
The idea of a One that produces and grounds the Many yet does not - AFAICTell from what he says! - represent the only One True Subject makes me think of the Priority Monism - Many Grounded, but not dissolving back into the One - mentioned by Naomi Fisher as the nature of Schelling's Mystical Platonism.
Also he specifically mentions Leibniz's Monads, for which a thread was recently made here though the way in which he says Seities work makes me think he specifically wants to speak of the Part-Whole / Fractal Hololism & Indestructibility that Monads possess suggest rather than other aspects of Leibniz's Monadology.
That said the Panpsychism aspect seemed a bit strange to me. According to the paper individuals can join into a single person and then separate into two distinct people again. Unclear what this would entail philosophically. I will assume for now the physics at least theoretically works out but it’s hard to think of how this unified entity would fit into Faggin’s claim that Seities are immortal…would both individuals remember being this entity? Yet it seems in some sense this Person that was there when the two Seities were unified would be gone? Or does this new Seity go off as a new entity?
I will be curious to see if Faggin expands on this.
'Historically, we may regard materialism as a system of dogma set up to combat orthodox dogma...Accordingly we find that, as ancient orthodoxies disintegrate, materialism more and more gives way to scepticism.'
- Bertrand Russell
- Bertrand Russell
![[-]](https://psiencequest.net/forums/images/collapse.png)
