Can consciousness be completely reduced to physical processes or computation? To answer this question, we'll have to critically review the domain of science, in particular physical processes and computation. A serious limitation is found: science only deals with relations, not with the nature of things. We are led to a formulation of the hard problem of consciousness, which I hope makes it clear for the more skeptical ones that there is a hard problem. Science can be used to approach this problem, but only in an indirect way. We will see that the hypothesis that there is something fundamental about consciousness makes testable predictions.
Cristinel Stoica