Some aspects of perception are more illusory than others. Our experience of ourselves, as having an enduring, stable identity over time, is a useful illusion. As is our perception of free will: we believe we are acting freely when we follow our own beliefs, goals or desires – but we can’t freely choose those beliefs, goals or desires. The purpose of consciousness, of all these hallucinations, is to keep us alive. When we die, it will be extinguished. Seth believes other animals are conscious, but doesn’t think artificial intelligence ever will be.
As for the ‘hard problem’, Seth believes that the better we understand our brains – the more precisely we can measure, manipulate and track consciousness – the less intractable the problem becomes. This theory doesn’t satisfy everyone: when I interviewed him for the New Statesman, Chalmers told me he disagreed that the hard problem can be solved this way – you still need to account for the mechanism by which objective matter produces subjective experiences. But he also emphasised their common ground: Seth’s approach of mapping conscious states on to brain states (identifying, for instance, which neurons correspond to ‘seeing red’ or ‘thinking about dinner’) is ‘pretty much the same approach I would recommend’. The New Statesman article 26 February 2022, ‘Is Reality an Hallucination?’
It’s the strangest idea in the whole of science. It emerged by accident from bizarre experiments. Scientists resisted it. But a maverick would force them to take it seriously. The idea means we live in a giant bubble. Parallel Universes, National Geographic 2011
Some of the world’s most respected scientists claim these other worlds may actually exist. ibid.
Some exist far beyond the further edge of our visible universe, others hang out in a mysterious landscape full of dark energy called the Multiverse, and others are right here in the same space we are all living, but we can’t see them obviously. ibid.
You might not want to meet your other self. ibid.
[Hugh] Everett wrote what’s become the definitive argument for parallel universes called Many Worlds. ibid.
An infinite number of other realities. ibid.
There may be other worlds out there. Where there could be an exact copy of our solar system, our Earth and each one of us. The Universe s3e2: Parallel Universes
The universe sits in a sea of parallel universes. ibid.
Remarkably, there may be four types of parallel universe out there: one could exist in exactly the same space that we are in, but it is so far away we cannot see it or reach it. In another scenario, multiple giant universes could exist in giant cosmic soap bubbles adrift in a cosmic sea of giant bubbles. In yet another scenario, many parallel universes occupy the same space and times as our universe, but because they are in different dimensions, they are invisible. In yet another, all the laws of physics are different so everything looks completely different. ibid.
The Wmap seems to show that the universe is flat. ibid.
‘We are children of the bubble.’ ibid. Tegmark
When In the 1980s scientists came up with a lyrical-sounding idea – String Theory – it promised to solve all the mysteries of the universe, including whether or not parallel universes are real. The idea is that all particles are not solid points or dots, as science said they were. Instead, if you could see up close, particles are in fact tiny string-like objects that individually vibrate in various ways ... String Theory has now evolved into M or membrane theory. ibid.
The crowning achievement of M Theory came when scientists realised that to make sense of everything, you need to think of the universe as existing in eleven dimensions. M Theory explains how the tiniest as well as the biggest things in the cosmos work. It also proposes that we all live on a giant and energetic membrane. Our universe is tethered to this wall by extra dimensions ... These membranes are also very close to each other. ibid.
’Tis wonderful what fable will not do!
’Tis said it makes reality more bearable:
But what’s reality? Who has its clue?
Philosophy? No; she too much rejects.
Religion? Yes; but which of all her sects? Lord Byron, Don Juan
What is reality? Is there only one of them? Dark s3e7: Inbetween Time, lecture