Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) / quote 125 of 171
Consciousness as a fundamental force
gravity. In other words, consciousness in this theory is a fundamental force in the universe, instead of a phenomenon caused by lower-level physics. We say that gravity, for example, is a fundamental force in the universe and that it is not really composed of even more fundamental forces (while that may still turn out to be the case). As we have seen, Chalmers argues that even when you have the complete physical explanation of consciousness, there will always remain phenomenal experience that has not been explained. In this sense even Chalmers admits that he is sympathetic to dualism. In his account, consciousness could still be physical but, importantly, it could also be made of information. He is sympathetic to artificial intelligence and has said that he sees no reason why his account of consciousness prevents machine consciousness. It would be somewhat akin to a gravity machine.