One theory holds that consciousness is part of the physical world, like gravity, and participated in the original creation of the universe. A fleeting subatomic particle called the Higgs boson is responsible for the force of gravity and gives matter mass; perhaps a similar unknown particle is responsible for consciousness. It would pervade the universe the way gravity does and, like gravity, determine how everything works. Without it, nothing would exist; the universe would just be a massive wave function. Scientists are so far from explaining consciousness that they can’t even agree on a
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