All right, get ready to dock deep today
because we're tackling consciousness.
And you know, you sent over some really interesting stuff,
excerpts from an interview with Federico Fagan.
Yeah, he's an interesting guy.
Yeah, and the guys got range, right?
Yeah.
Silicon chip technology and consciousness research.
Like how do you even?
Well, it is a unique combination.
What's fascinating is that his journey,
you know, started in Silicon Valley.
He invented the CPU touch pad,
worked on early neural networks, all that.
Right, a central casting, right?
But then, this is where it gets wild,
in 1990 he had this profound experience at Lake Tahoe
and it just totally changed his trajectory.
Sent him on this 30 year quest to understand consciousness.
Yeah, it seems like this Lake Tahoe thing was
a real turning point for him.
Without giving too much away, it sounds like
it involved this overwhelming sense of love
and interconnectedness, love with everything.
Additional love.
Yeah, and that kind of pushed him to question the whole,
you know, the standard scientific view
that consciousness is just a product of the brain.
Exactly, he argues that this materialist perspective,
while maybe useful for understanding
some things about the brain, you know,
just doesn't really fully explain things.
Subjective experience, free will.
And even like quantum mechanics.
Yeah, it just hits a wall.
So, I gotta ask, what does he propose instead?
Where does he go with this?
Okay, so, get this.
His core concept is that we are not just physical bodies,
but conscious fields existing, wait for it,
beyond space time.
Okay, hold on, conscious fields beyond space time.
Yeah, he calls this field say,
and it's basically a conscious entity with,
get this, free will.
And it wants to know itself.
So, hold on, let me try to get this straight.
It's like, okay, so we have these conscious fields,
they exist outside of space and time,
they have free will, they wanna understand themselves.
Are we talking like energy fields in Star Wars?
Not exactly, I mean, it's not like the force or anything.
It's, think of it more like this.
Imagine a drone being controlled by a remote operator.
The drone, that's our physical body,
interacting with the physical world.
But the operator, the one experiencing things,
making the decisions, that's the say, the conscious field.
So, our consciousness is like the pilot
and our body is the vehicle.
I can kinda see that.
But how does this conscious field, this say,
actually interact with the physical world?
Is that where quantum physics comes in?
Right, that's where it gets even more interesting.
Fagan says that quantum information acts as the bridge
between the conscious field and the physical world.
It's like the language, if you will.
The language?
Yeah, the language that allows our inner experiences
to be represented and to influence the world around us,
our thoughts, feelings, all that.
Now, to be completely honest,
when I first read about quantum information
and consciousness, I was just like, what?
Yeah, I get it.
It's hard to wrap your head around
how abstract math can explain something
as personal as feelings.
Oh yeah, definitely.
But what Fagan does, he actually flips the script.
He says that math isn't the ultimate explanation
for consciousness.
It's more like math is a tool created by consciousness.
To understand itself.
Yeah, exactly.
Like a map we use to navigate our inner world.
Okay, that actually makes a bit more sense.
But what about qualia, those raw sensations?
You know, like redness or the taste of chocolate
or even like the feeling of love.
How can quantum information explain all that?
That's a great question.
And you know, it's one that is still being debated a lot.
But Fagan suggests that while quantum information
can represent these qualia,
it doesn't necessarily explain the meaning
that we attach to them.
Think about it like a map again.
A map can show you the layout of a city.
But it can't tell you the history of that city,
the stories of the people who live there, the meaning.
That's something that we experience directly
as conscious fields.
Right, so let's recap for a second.
We've got this conscious field,
this say interacting with the physical world
through quantum information.
But what about free will?
If the universe is deterministic,
you know, like classical physics says,
doesn't that mean our choices are already predetermined?
Yeah, and this is where Fagan's interpretation
of quantum mechanics gets, well, a little wild.
He suggests that the collapse of the wave function,
you know, that whole thing in quantum mechanics
where possibilities become reality.
He says it's not random.
It's a free will decision made by the conscious field.
Wow.
Your choices, they matter.
They're not predetermined.
They're shaping the reality that you've experienced.
So it's not just our minds
that are operating on this quantum level.
Fagan also suggests that our bodies,
even down to the cellular level, are quantum systems too.
That's right.
He even compares a cell to a microprocessor.
But there's a big difference.
It's not just this complex machine following a set program.
It's constantly interacting with conscious fields,
responding to information,
and making choices that go beyond just,
you know, basic biochemistry.
So it's almost like our cells are making choices too.
Is there any real world evidence to back this up?
Well, think about epigenetics, you know,
where genes can change within a lifetime
based on stuff from our environment.
Right.
That suggests that there's a whole layer
of information beyond our DNA
that's influencing how our genes work.
And that fits in with this whole idea.
Exactly.
Our cells are constantly interacting
with these quantum fields.
Receiving information and responding in ways
that maybe traditional biology can't fully explain.
Okay, now for a claim that really made me do a double take,
Fagan says that trees are conscious.
Trees.
Well, that brains.
How's that even possible?
I know, right?
It sounds crazy, but think about it.
If he's right, it just,
it blows the whole materialist paradigm out of the water.
If consciousness doesn't require a brain, then where is it?
What does it even mean to be conscious?
Like he's opening up this whole other realm of possibilities,
right?
Like consciousness could exist in forms
we haven't even imagined.
Exactly.
And the amazing thing is Fagan is planning to do experiments
to try and prove his theory about tree consciousness.
Wow.
It's gonna be fascinating to see how that all plays out.
Yeah.
And it could really change how we view, well, everything.
So we've talked about conscious fields,
quantum information, even, you know, conscious trees.
But what about artificial intelligence?
Does Fagan talk about that at all?
He does.
And it's super relevant with all the buzz
about AI these days, right?
It's easy to get caught up in the hype,
maybe even fear about machines becoming super intelligent,
like so passing us.
Yeah. I mean, those sci-fi movies where AI takes over,
they don't help.
So where does Fagan land on all this?
Does he think AI will, you know, become conscious like us?
It's interesting.
He sees AI as a powerful tool.
I mean, capable of incredible things, right?
Computation, problem solving, you name it.
But he argues that AI fundamentally lacks that spark
of consciousness.
So AI can, you know, crunch numbers and process data,
maybe even write poems, compose music,
but it's not really thinking the way we do.
Right. More like a really sophisticated mimicry.
And that raises some ethical questions, doesn't it,
about how we develop and use AI.
Absolutely.
Like if we treat AI as if it has human level consciousness,
you know, feelings,
we could be making some serious mistakes.
Yeah. Imagine giving critical decision-making power
to something that lacks, you know,
true understanding or compassion.
Or even a sense of self-preservation.
It's, well, it's a bit of a scary thought.
And that's why Fagan says it's so important for us
to cultivate our own consciousness.
So instead of fearing AI or trying to compete with it,
we should be focusing on, you know, our own growth.
Exactly. In a world where technology is changing
so rapidly, the best upgrade is to ourselves,
to our understanding.
Okay, get ready because this next concept from Fagan
is a bit of a mind bender.
He connects the expansion of the universe to,
wait for it, consciousness.
Yeah. Space itself, he says, is like a memory
of the self-knowing of, you know,
that ultimate unified consciousness, one.
Right.
And as one expands its knowledge,
the universe expands with it.
Wow. That's a lot to take in.
It makes you feel so small, but also like,
incredibly significant.
But how does this one give rise to, you know, individual says?
Do all the different beings and perspectives in the universe?
Fagan uses this analogy of multi-dimensional tomography.
Imagine you have this really complex,
multi-dimensional object.
Okay.
To understand it fully,
you have to view it from every possible angle.
Capture all its facets and dimensions.
And with you.
Well, one knows itself through an infinite number
of perspectives, each one represented by a say.
So we're all like facets of this one ultimate consciousness,
experiencing the universe from different points of view.
Exactly.
And that includes you listening right now.
Your perspective, your experience, your say,
it's all part of this grand cosmic tapestry.
And there's no one right way to experience it.
It's through all these different perspectives
that one comes to know itself.
Okay. One final question that I keep coming back to.
If we're all part of this unified consciousness,
why is there so much conflict, suffering?
It seems to contradict this idea of oneness.
That's where Fagan's insight into cooperation
versus competition comes in.
Conflict, he suggests, arises from that limited
ego-driven perspective.
When we only see ourselves as separate individuals,
you know, driven by our own desires and fears.
So we get stuck in that limited view and boom, conflict.
Makes sense.
But what's the alternative?
How do we, you know, shift out of that competition
and into something better?
Fagan suggests that when we really experience
that interconnectedness, you know, our essence
as these conscious fields, something changes.
Like deep down, the urge to compete lessons.
And there's this new desire for collaboration,
for understanding.
So it's like our well-being is tied to everyone else's.
The planet, even the whole cosmos.
It's a big shift, yeah.
But I think it's a perspective that a lot of people are,
well, maybe intuitively drawn to already.
Look at all the movements for social justice,
for the environment, for global cooperation.
It's like, we're waking up to this understanding
that we're all connected.
That's hopeful.
So taking all this in, I mean, what does it mean
for, you know, for someone listening right now?
Fagan's ideas, they're definitely challenging.
But also empowering in a way.
If you really grasp what he's saying,
it means you, the listener, you're not just this body.
You're a conscious field with huge potential.
Your choices matter.
They shape your reality.
And by, you know, cultivating your inner knowing,
you can understand yourself and the universe
in a much deeper way.
It's like we have this incredible power within us
way beyond what we usually think.
And it's not just about, you know,
understanding it with your head.
It's about experiencing it directly.
Through that, say, with wonder, with openness.
So it's less about finding all the answers
and more about like asking the right questions.
Ones that open us up to new possibilities.
Exactly.
Embrace that curiosity, that sense of wonder.
That's what's so inspiring about Fagan.
It's not just theory.
It's a call to action.
A call to?
A wake up to our true nature.
And then use that to make the world better.
That's it.
And it's a vision worth working towards,
even if, you know, the path isn't always clear.
Well, this deep dive has definitely given me
a lot to think about.
It's like opening up a whole new dimension to reality.
And that's just the beginning.
There's so much more to explore about consciousness.
And if you want to go deeper,
we highly recommend Fagan's book, Irreducible.
It's mind bending, but hopeful.
And as always, we'd love to hear your thoughts.
What resonated with you?
What questions do you have?
Share them with us.
Maybe they'll spark our next deep dive.
Until then, keep exploring, keep questioning,
and keep expanding that awareness.
You know, the journey never really ends,
and that's what makes it so exciting.