A Handle on Consciousness: The Asymmetry of Consciousness by George Goutos
This exploration, ‘A Handle on Consciousness: The Asymmetry of Consciousness’, delves into the enigma of consciousness, with a particular focus on the deeply personal nature of the first-person experience. While the symmetric challenge of consciousness addresses the general puzzle of why any physical system becomes sentient, the asymmetric challenge investigates why individual, unique perspectives arise—why each person has their own subjective experience. The article argues that existing theories of consciousness fail to explain this asymmetry and urges the need for a framework that accounts for the uniqueness of personal conscious experiences.
The idea of an “Olympian perspective” is introduced, inviting readers to imagine a pre-conscious state where all individuals appear identical and interchangeable. From this lofty, external vantage point, no one individual seems more important than another—a perspective of symmetry. However, once a person gains consciousness, the world is experienced through a unique, subjective lens, creating an asymmetry. This asymmetry means that, from a first-person perspective, the individual’s own experience is the only one that truly matters—if one’s consciousness ceases, the subjective universe effectively disappears, reinforcing the primacy of individual experience.
The paper draws parallels between the asymmetric nature of consciousness and symmetry-breaking concepts in physics. In quantum mechanics, particles in a superposition state become unique upon measurement, breaking their initial symmetry. The paper speculates that consciousness may involve a similar kind of symmetry-breaking, where individual first-person perspectives emerge as distinct properties of certain brain processes. He suggests that each brain may acquire a unique “first-person property” during development, much like particles gain distinct characteristics through interaction with fields. This concept raises questions about whether first-person perspectives could originate from sources beyond the brain, perhaps tied to quantum phenomena or even fields embedded in spacetime.
The article concludes by highlighting the need for a theory that addresses not just how consciousness emerges (the symmetric challenge) but why each person experiences a unique first-person perspective (the asymmetric challenge). He argues that future research should explore whether consciousness stems from interactions with fields beyond the brain, such as quantum fields or dimensions of spacetime. Ultimately, solving the asymmetric challenge will require a theory that reconciles the deeply personal nature of consciousness with the seemingly symmetrical physical world—a quest that Goutos presents as essential to fully understanding the phenomenon of sentience.
The graphic representation of the concept of consciousness asymmetry, visually capturing the transition from the pre-conscious symmetric state to the unique, subjective first-person experience.
