In 2022, Cortical Labs demonstrated that 800,000 neurons on amicroelectrode array could learn to play the video game Pong within fiveminutes ("DishBrain," published in Neuron). The neurons exhibited goaldirected behaviour, self-organisation, and adaptive learning — but notconsciousness. This paper takes the DishBrain result as a criticalempirical datum: neural processing is necessary but not...
We present a theoretical framework proposing that quantum-scale information transfer between Everettian branches of the universal wave function could, under specific conditions, produce fragmentary conscious impressions in the human brain. The framework synthesizes five independently established domains — the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI), the ER=EPR conjecture, the Gao-Jafferis-Wall (GJW)...