Science & Technology

Only conscious experience actually exists, neuroscientist argues

By T.K. Randall
May 26, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Bing AI / Dall-E 3) The true nature of consciousness and how it arises continues to remain one of the biggest unanswered questions in modern science.

While conventional views tend to suggest that consciousness is created by the physical brain, more recently we've heard from a growing number of scientists who believe that consciousness may instead be a more fundamental part of the universe - something that pervades everything.

Taking this one step further, neuroscientist Christof Koch of the Allen Institute argues that consciousness may in fact be all there actually is and everything else - including the physical universe - is a manifestation of it.

According to this theory, everything we see and feel is mediated by conscious experience.The physical world, far from creating consciousness, is only secondary to it.

Another proponent of this idea is Nicco Reggente of the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies who maintains that this way of seeing the universe could answer a few fundamental questions such as how consciousness would otherwise arise from the physical brain or what it is that the universe is expanding into.

"Instead of asking how matter produces mind, we ask how mind structures itself into the appearance of matter" he said.

"Many of our hardest problems may turn out to be artifacts of starting from the wrong place."

Source: Popular Mechanics

Tags: Consciousness