I just finished my Field Note on “A Brief History of Intelligence”. It is a thick book with even thicker concepts that really got me thinking. The book describes our evolutionary history from the point of view of intelligence – how modern human intelligence came about. There’s a lot that I get into in the Field Note, it’ll take you close to an hour and a half to read, and it also happens to be the first ever Field Note build from the ground up using the Sunchaser Standard. If you’re a Sunchaser Crew member, you’ll be able to read it when it releases on the 18th of July, and if you’re not yet supporting Sunchaser on Patreon, do consider.

While writing the Note, there was one thing that blew my mind – which was how we perceive reality. In short, we don’t perceive reality as it is (including our own bodies and even minds) – Instead what we do, is that we create a simulation (of the world outside, of our bodies, of our own minds) and perceive that. This process is so seamless, so effortless that we don’t even realise we’re doing it. The inputs from our senses do enter the brain, but we don’t come into contact with them – instead, what comes into contact with sensory inputs are the simulations generated by the neocortex. Like two arrows released towards each other, at the time of this contact if the simulation matches the sensory input, all is well – And in case it does not, the brain changes the simulation to match reality.

Nevertheless, this simulation – whether an accurate reflection of reality (vision during the day) or a hallucination (dreams at night) – is what you perceive. As I mention in the Note: You are living inside a simulation. Evolution has decided to simulate reality for you, instead of showing it to you as it is. Surely there has to be some evolutionary advantage to this, as well as learning for business and life. There are several, I cover them in the Note.

But I still want to linger a bit longer on what this means, that we’re literally dreaming all the time, even when our eyes are open. I want to linger on “simulation” itself: Is a simulation a necessary condition for consciousness? Or can consciousness exist without the protective bubble of a simulation?

To answer that, I think I should try and first understand what makes a simulation, a simulation; and what makes reality, reality.

To me, the difference between a simulation and reality is not an objective difference, it is a subjective one. The difference emerges from the subjective point of view of the agent in the simulation. The difference is that in a simulation, the agent has control over the properties and the variables of the simulation. For instance, turning back time, dialling up or down various parameters and so on. But in the case of reality, the agent must accept the simulation as it is. To me, between a simulation and reality, there is no absolute difference, but rather a simulation will become a reality or reality will turn into a simulation when the agent’s power over the simulation decreases or increases, respectively.

By this “logic”, Simulation and Reality are two sides of the same coin.

Therefore, it would stand to reason that the entire universe, which is considered the ultimate simulation by many, would indeed be a simulation to the ultimate agent, that is, God. But for us mortal beings, it remains reality because we do not have any control over this universe, such as the ability to control the arrow of time or the ability to change the laws of physics. If God is the ultimate programmer, the universe is His simulation where He has ultimate control. For us, lacking that control, it’s our undeniable reality. This provides a subjective “bridge” between scientific and theological/philosophical perspectives on existence.

So, we know that a simulation can “hold” consciousness, but can reality hold consciousness as well? Theoretically, you would think that it could, because there is no difference between a simulation and reality from an absolute sense like I said, and therefore if consciousness can exist in simulation, consciousness can also exist in reality. But I suppose the only difference will be that in the case of reality, raw and unfiltered, consciousness will never “know” much. Because it will be subject to reality as it changes. Consciousness would react without any history or any memory or any sense of alternate futures, whereas in a simulation, the consciousness can have all of this.

Without an internal simulation that actively constructs and predicts, consciousness would indeed be limited to immediate, unprocessed sensory input and reactive responses. It would be a stream of raw, uninterpreted data. In this way, one can think that old organisms, those that did not have the neocortex or even the simple organisms of today are “conscious”, but their version of consciousness is limited because the simulation that they find themselves in cannot be modulated. Unlike the simulation, humans find themselves in.

Consciousness can exist in “raw reality,” but it would be a very impoverished, purely reactive form. The entire evolutionary journey Bennett describes in his book, culminating in the neocortex and its sophisticated internal simulation, can be seen as the process by which biological systems developed a “protected, modulated bubble of simulation” around that basic consciousness. This bubble allows for “knowing” (memory, prediction, planning), agency, and the rich, complex subjective experience we call the human mind. The degree to which an organism’s internal simulation can be modulated or actively generated directly correlates with the sophistication of its conscious experience and its cognitive abilities.

I cannot help but draw the parallel with how Advaita Vedanta describes consciousness – defining it as the substrate of existence of reality, that everything has (indeed, is made of) consciousness, but explaining that only when the “tool” (“Antahkarana“) of experience (the human brain for instance) get’s sophisticated enough (in our case evolution, biochemical process and the underlying physics), can it experience in greater richness this consciousness.

Like an empty pot is only illuminated by the sun, but a pot filled with water is not only illuminated but reflects a “little sun” in itself as well. This analogy suggests that our complex internal simulation (the “Matrix” you experience) is not a barrier from consciousness, but rather the sophisticated means by which consciousness is able to experience itself in such rich, detailed, and differentiated ways. The brain, through its simulation power, provides the “water” that allows the universal “sun” of consciousness to form a vivid, personal reflection.

Do you agree with my perspective? Share your thoughts and reflections in the comments below.