As we’ve seen, physics describes patterns in spacetime that correspond to particles moving around. If the particle arrangements obey certain principles, they give rise to emergent phenomena that are pretty independent of the particle substrate, and have a totally different feel to them. A great example of this is information processing, in computronium. But we’ve now taken this idea to another level: If the information processing itself obeys certain principles, it can give rise to the higher-level emergent phenomenon that we call consciousness. This places your conscious experience not one
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