Does a particle have a mind? Does it have knowledge? Predict? Prefer some trajectories over others? Have a goal? Does it have any mental properties at all? Or do all aspects of ‘mind’ emerge from complex interactions among many particles? The conventional view within science is that particles are mindless, and that mental properties only emerge with complexity. However, something cannot emerge from nothing. Minds are subjective, but the science of matter has neglected subjectivity. Here I incorporate subjectivity into the physical science we already have, introducing a unified framework in which physical and mental are inseparable. Information is subjective because it is local in space and time. I propose that a particle is information, and that all of the mental phenomena listed above are inherent to information and therefore to matter. What emerges with the complexity of chemistry and biology, and the human brain, is diversity of information content, information about ‘this’ versus ‘that.’
Christopher D. Fiorillo