Consciousness, Space, and the Holographic Correspondence
Uziel Awret
Journal of Consciousness Studies February 1, 2026 DOI: 10.53765/20512201.33.1.248 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that if the neural correlates of consciousness were shown to be massively entangled, applying the AdS/CFT holographic correspondence (duality) principle to the brain could resolve many problems in the cluster that makes up the problem of consciousness, and that this strange physical scenario should be taken seriously. |
Abstract
Physicalists need to explain why consciousness seems to be incompatible with physics. This 'seeming' is attributed to psychological reasons by eliminativists and to conceptual confusion by nonreductive physicalists. However, as a pre-Socratic naturalist, I find the most satisfying possible solution to this 'seeming' to emerge from the 'riches of physics', that is, from discovering physical properties that are so different from ordinary physical properties that they seem incompatible with the physical. I also believe, with Stoljar, that the problem of consciousness is made up of a cluster of related problems. I argue that were the neural correlates of consciousness shown to be massively entangled, then the AdS/CFT 'holographic correspondence (duality) principle', applied to the brain, could solve so many problems in that cluster that, although very strange, this physical scenario should be taken seriously.