Many scientists believe we will soon create machines which can think far more powerfully than humans. Is it possible that such machines could become self-aware and develop consciousness? And if so, could a spiritual machine arise, or can such properties exist only through a biological substrate?

That takes us into science fiction. A very fundamental question that mainstream science has an answer for, but I believe a change will come.

The origin of consciousness

Is consciousness an epiphenomenon? If you don’t like that word, let’s use byproduct. Is consciousness a byproduct of the physical brain? In other words, is consciousness created by the material brain, or is consciousness ultimately independent of the brain and only manifests in a particular way through the biological brain in the same way that a radio receiver does not produce the radio program, but receives it and gives it a particular form so we can receive it through it? It’s a medium for transmitting consciousness, but the consciousness does not originate in the radio receiver. As I’ve already dwelled for two minutes on this particular image of radio receiver, you see what I believe to be the case: that consciousness is not produced by the brain, but it uses the brain.

But that’s up to you. It’s not ultimately decisive what you believe. Is it possible that machines achieve such complexity that they can become vehicles for consciousness? If the brain does not produce consciousness, which I believe we are going to realize soon even in the mainstream, and if the brain is a conduit for consciousness, is it possible that machines, which would have to become incredibly complex because even the most complex computers are very primitive compared to the brain, could ever achieve such complexity that they become capable of transmitting consciousness? It is conceivable.

Or there could be a symbiosis between biological and non-biological, as we’ve seen in some movies, where they become semi-biological computers. And so, yes, of course, there can be all kinds of things. The universe is infinite in its capacity for creating new forms, and it’s well possible that it could create, through humans, another life form that is capable not of producing consciousness, but of receiving consciousness.

So far, my iPhone has not become conscious. Every day, I look at it and say, “No, not yet,” although sometimes it looks as if it had a mind of its own, as the expression goes.

This topic could be discussed for much longer, but it would also be interesting to write spiritual science fiction. Some of it exists already, with some episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation having a strong spiritual element, as you can see, I’m a fan. I even played with the idea of showing an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation here, but we may not do it this time.

Just be present in the space of presence. There’s nobody in particular here, not a person, just points of presence – all expressions of the one consciousness manifesting as little points of light, which sometimes mistake themselves as persons. They flicker for a moment, then they die down, and another one arises. It’s you, the light of consciousness. You are that, and then it withdraws, and the body goes, gone, and then it comes again. Wonderful.

Bron: @EckhartTolle