In this wide-ranging interview with Natalia Vorontsova, Professor Marjorie Woollacott draws remarkable parallels between 9th-10th century Kashmiri Shaivism and modern idealism, pointing to the fundamental and irreducible nature of consciousness. Moreover, her study of near-death experiences empirically supports this very hypothesis of the existence of a fundamental consciousness without neurons and beyond our five senses. This is an open conversation about life, death, and who we really are as ‘points of consciousness.’
Tag: Bernardo Kastrup
Bernardo Kastrup
What Came Before the Big Bang? | Theory of Embedded Intelligence, Bill Mensch & Bernardo Kastrup
Could it be a coincidence that two founding fathers of modern day computing, independently from each other, are both coming with theories of consciousness that are idealist in nature? Or does a deep understanding of what computation is—and what it is not—inevitably lead away from physicalist ideas on consciousness? Previously Essentia Foundation presented the work of Federico Faggin, and now a legendary contemporary of his, computer engineer Bill Mensch, presents his Theory of Embedded Intelligence (TEI) to us. Mensch was a major contributor to the Motorola 6800 and became famous for his work on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU, a chip that, because of it’s efficiency, completely revolutionized computing in the 80’s. From Arcade halls to the Apple II and Nintendo 8 bit consoles, 6502s could be found everywhere. Even to this day the chip is still used in children’s toys and even in pacemakers and satellites. Looking back at his career, Mensch realizes that building computer chips is in essence a form of ‘embedding’ intelligence in technology, just as nature has embedded intelligence in biological systems, like humans. In his TEI model intelligence is fundamental. This raises the philosophical question of how consciousness relates to intelligence, and for this reason Bernardo Kastrup joined in on the conversation Mensch and Hans Busstra had. The value of a theory like Mensch’s is perhaps exactly that it is not philosophically fine-tuned to the terminology commonly used in philosophy of mind. By not taking the human mind and phenomenal consciousness as its departure point, but intelligence instead, Mensch arrives at a position in which the distinction between living beings and abiotic systems is less distinct. Mensch’s slides can be downloaded here: https://www.essentiafoundation.o…
Groundbreaking Consciousness Theory By CPU inventor Federico Faggin & Bernardo Kastrup
A new theory of consciousness proposes that qualia — for instance, the scent of a rose — reside in quantum fields. Federico Faggin is one of the greatest luminaries of high technology alive today. A physicist by education, he is the inventor of the microprocessor and the MOS silicon gate technology, both of which underlie the modern world’s entire information technology. With the knowledge and experience of a lifetime in cutting-edge fields, Federico now turns his attention to consciousness and the nature of reality, sharing with us his profound insights on the classical and quantum worlds, artificial intelligence, life and the human mind. In this discussion, he elaborates on an idealist model of reality, produced after years of careful thought and direct experience, according to which nature’s most fundamental level is that of consciousness as a quantum phenomenon, while the classical physical world consists merely of evocative symbols of a deeper reality.
Is Everything Made of Matter or Consciousness? | Rupert Spira & Bernardo Kastrup in Conversation
Is everything in the world made of matter or consciousness? What exactly are matter and consciousness? Rupert Spira joins Bernardo Kastrup, scientist and author, in a deep exploration of science and spirituality and how they inevitably meet on the same path to truth. The conversation proves that anyone, from any background, can come to the same universal understanding that non-duality teaches; that peace and happiness is who we truly are. Rupert came to this understanding through 40 years of spiritual practice in the vedantic and tantric traditions, while Bernardo studied the professional fields of computer science and engineering. Moderated by Simon Mundie, the discussion covers various topics as Rupert and Bernardo dissect solipsism, idealism and materialism. Through it all, they both came to the same recognition which is that peace and love surpasses all understanding, and is the very nature of everyone and everything.
Analytic Idealism Course
In this Part I of Essentia Foundation’s Analytic Idealism Course, we investigate whether our ordinary intuitions about the nature of reality and the world at large can be true at all.
Link to PART II: https://youtu.be/BbnfnveWUh0
Quantum Bayesianism and the embodied agent
The Nobel Prize in physics in 2022 went the scientists who, for over 40 years, have carried out a series of experiments indicating that, contrary to materialist expectations, physical entities do not have standalone existence but are, in fact, products of observation. This result is extraordinarily relevant to our understanding of the nature of reality, and so Essentia Foundation, in collaboration with the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Vienna, of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (home to Prof. Anton Zeilinger, one of this year’s Nobel Laureates in physics), organized a conference discussing the implications of this result. The conference was hosted by IQOQI-Vienna’s Dr. Markus Müller and featured seven other speakers. In this presentation, Dr. Jacques Pienaar discusses the notion of an embodied agent in the context of Quantum Bayesianism (‘QBism,’ for short). QBism is an interpretation of quantum mechanics according to which the wave function represents simply what we know about reality—a kind of betting strategy about what we will see next—as opposed to reality itself.
Bernardo Kastrup | Allowing Nature To Work Through You
Bernardo Kastrup is the executive director of Essentia Foundation. His work has been leading the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental (Bernardokastrup.com) This interview was recorded in May 2022.