---
title: "These Mathematicians Think the Universe May Be Conscious"
description: "The creators of Integrated Information Theory, the bizarre model that suggests the universe could be consciousness, are doubling down on the idea."
date: "2020-04-29"
modified: "2020-04-29"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mathematicians-think-universe-conscious"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "consciousness"
  - "integrated information theory"
  - "the digest"
---

# These Mathematicians Think the Universe May Be Conscious

![The creators of Integrated Information Theory, the bizarre model that suggests the universe could be consciousness, are doubling down on the idea.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/mathematicians-think-universe-conscious.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Theory of Everything

Scientists are doubling down on a peculiar model that attempts to quantify and measure consciousness.

The model, [known as Integrated Information Theory](<https://futurism.com/professor-claims-electrons-quarks-experience-consciousness>) (IIT), has long been controversial because it comes with an unusual quirk. When applied to non-living things like machines, subatomic particles, and even the universe, it claims that they too experience consciousness, *[New Scientist ](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632800-900-is-the-universe-conscious-it-seems-impossible-until-you-do-the-maths/>)*[reports](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632800-900-is-the-universe-conscious-it-seems-impossible-until-you-do-the-maths/>).

"This could be the beginning of a scientific revolution," Munich Centre for Mathematical Philosophy mathematician Johannes Kleiner told the magazine.

## Complex Math

IIT relies on a value called phi that represents the interconnectivity of a node, whether it's a region of the brain, circuitry, or an atom. That value represents the node's level of consciousness. The cerebral cortex, for instance, has a high value because it contains a dense cluster of widely-interconnected neurons.

But when IIT was first presented, calculating phi was impossibly convoluted. *New Scientist* reports that calculating the phi of a human brain would have previously taken longer than the universe has existed, [but a February paper](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.07655.pdf>) by IIT's creators, currently awaiting peer review, attempts to simplify the process significantly.

## Show Your Work

Many academics remain unconvinced by IIT, in part because of its complexity but mainly because of its far-reaching implications for a conscious universe.

"I think mathematics can help us understand the neural basis of consciousness in the brain, and perhaps even machine consciousness, but it will inevitably leave something out: the felt inner quality of experience," University of Connecticut philosopher and cognitive scientist Susan Schneider told *New Scientist.*

**READ MORE:** [Is the universe conscious? It seems impossible until you do the maths](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632800-900-is-the-universe-conscious-it-seems-impossible-until-you-do-the-maths/>) \[*New Scientist*\]

**More on cosmic consciousness:** *[New Study Links Human Consciousness to a Law That Governs the Universe](<https://futurism.com/new-study-links-human-consciousness-law-governs-universe>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)