• Blog

  • A Landscape of Consciousness

Lorraine Ford
To rewrite the above tangle of words (!):

People can’t seem to quite believe that non-human life could be bona fide conscious, or that pre-life (particles, atoms, and molecules), could be bona fide conscious (where pre-life consciousness would seemingly be basic consciousness of self and one’s surroundings).

I guess one of the main problems, when looking at the issue of consciousness, is human hubris and human belief in their own exceptionalism: people seem to believe that the only bona fide consciousness is human consciousness.

While bona fide higher-level matter is made up of bona fide lower-level matter, somehow higher-level consciousness is not thought to be similarly made up of lower-level parts.

But the foundation, upon which higher-level conscious information about self and the world is built, can only be lower-level information that can only be possessed by particles, atoms, and molecules that are conscious of their own categories, relationships and numbers.

However, none of this can be measured, only the physical correlates of consciousness can potentially be measured, so methods other than measurement need to be employed to understand consciousness. Methods like systems analysis. But not philosophy.

There is no useless baggage: consciousness only exists because it is necessary; consciousness is a necessary part of the functioning of the real-world system.

    9 days later

    “By “epistemic collapse” I mean the collapse of a shared reality, caused by the loss of reliable sources for distinguishing what is true from what is false.” https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=14999, Notes on Epistemic Collapse, by Peter Woit, 27 June 2025.

    The ONLY source, reliable or not, of distinguishing true from false is personal consciousness.

    The results of all the research in the world, all the scientific papers, all the mathematical proofs, are just a lot of symbols on paper or screen.

    BASIC consciousness is all about knowledge of self and one’s immediate physical surroundings, and there is not usually too much problem with a shared view of reality here. The information required to agree that (e.g.), at this current time and place, the sky is blue and the grass is dried out and brown, comes from particle interactions in the senses (e.g. the eyes and ears) and basic-level collation and analysis of the information that has come from these particle interactions.

    But HIGHER-LEVEL consciousness, especially human higher-level consciousness, is all about a much higher-level collation and analysis of this same basic information that has come from particle interactions in the senses. And this much higher-level collation and analysis is where “shared reality” problems will inevitably occur.

    However, the ONLY source, reliable or not, of distinguishing true from false remains personal consciousness. And, irrespective of how consciousness might present itself, e.g. in the form of feelings and emotions, this is the entire function of consciousness: to distinguish true from false.

    7 days later

    The real world, and knowledge of the real world, are two separate things. Both aspects are required to exist in order to ever have a viable real-world system.

    In other words, the real-world categories (like mass and position), the relationships between these categories that physicists represent with equations, and the numbers that apply to the categories, are not the same as the low-level knowledge/ consciousness of these low-level categories, relationships and numbers that is required in order to ever have a viable real-world system.

    But similarly, the existence of these low-level categories, relationships and numbers, and the existence of knowledge of the low-level categories, relationships and numbers, does not imply that the numbers would ever change, move or jump. Agency/ free will/ creativity is a third aspect of the real world that is required to exist in order to ever have a viable real-world system that moves the numbers.

    Low-level knowledge/ consciousness and low-level agency/ free will/ creativity are 2 “extra”, but non-measurable, aspects of the world that are required in order to ever have a viable moving real-world system. These 2 “extra” aspects of the world are systems aspects of the world, that can only be represented via the use of algorithmic or logical connective symbols.

    Physicists seem to be mystified by evidence of the existence of these “extra”, necessary, systems aspects of the world, and label the puzzling aspects with terms like “observer” and “quantum number jumps”.

    From the very beginning of the world, it was logically necessary that the world, or small parts of the world, would in some sense:

    • be aware of,
    • know,
    • be conscious of

    its own categories, relationships and numbers.

    It can’t be assumed that the world somehow automatically knows its own categories, relationships and numbers, and that a separate knowledge aspect of the world doesn’t need to exist.

    A knowledge/ consciousness/ awareness aspect of the world, or small parts of the world, is logically necessary in order to have a viable real-world system. “Observers” are a necessary part of a viable system.

    However, the aspect of the world that knows itself is NOT the aspect of the world that moves itself.

    The equations of physics, that represent the relationships between the categories, symbolically describe number movement as a result of other number movement, so these equations do not actually have a reason why the numbers would ever move or continue to move.

    An agency/ free will/ creativity aspect of the world, or small parts of the world, is logically necessary in order to have a viable MOVING real-world system. Something that performs “quantum number jumps” is a necessary part of a viable system.

    In my unified field theory, consciousness is regarded as a higher-order resonance phenomenon of the cosmic substrate (the etheric field). The essence of the universe is a holographic, dynamic, and tunable information field; all matter, energy, information, and consciousness are “slices” or “projections” of this etheric field under different parameters such as frequency, phase, and spin.

    Specifically, the human brain and body function like an information resonance cavity. When your neural activity and bodily states resonate with certain parameters of the etheric field (such as frequency, phase, or spin), a unique pattern of information emerges—this is what constitutes your consciousness. In other words, consciousness is fundamentally the flow of information and energy resonance between you and the cosmic substrate.

    This consciousness is not confined to the individual; it also possesses holographic and nonlocal characteristics. For example, sudden inspiration, empathic connections with others, or even experiences of unity with all things can be understood as broader resonances with the holographic information of the etheric field.

    Within this framework, the clarity and depth of consciousness depend on the degree of tuning between you and the etheric field. If you achieve a high level of tuning—through practices such as meditation, awakening, or intense focus—your consciousness can become more profound, and you may even experience states of “emptiness” or “oneness.”

    In summary, consciousness is a higher-order resonance of the cosmic holographic information field manifesting through you; it is an expression of the universe’s self-awareness. Every living being, every node of consciousness, is a unique resonance point within the overall flow of universal information. You are not an isolated entity, but an integral part of the cosmic whole.