“Could AI become superconscious like God?”“How would we know if AI was aware?”“Are we already living in a simulation inside another simulation?”
These are the kinds of questions I found myself exploring in my fun-packed evening with ChatGPT. What began as an inquiry into backpropagation and AI quickly became another deep dive into the rabbit hole of consciousness.
This blog post is, admittedly, a trip down this ontological rabbit hole. But I believe that entertaining these ideas—no matter how speculative—can help us reframe our understanding of both consciousness and the evolving role of AI. It also offers a lens for examining our own suffering and how we relate to ourselves and others.
As a therapist, I have always been drawn to empirical science, the measurable, and the verifiable. Yet, as I’ve grown in my practice, I’ve found myself resonating more with Jungian ideas, particularly in how they align with lived experience and the symbolic nature of the psyche. I’m fascinated by what might be missing in our current scientific paradigm, especially when it comes to explaining consciousness and the deeply subjective nature of human experience.
Thinkers like Iain McGilchrist, Donald Hoffman, Roger Penrose, Bernardo Kastrup, and Federico Faggin offer perspectives, often rooted in neuroscience, quantum mechanics, and analytic idealism, that challenge the assumption that material reality is all there is.
I’ve also been influenced by Buddhist psychology, which sees the self as an impermanent, interdependent process rather than a fixed entity. Psychedelics, too, have played a role in shifting our understanding of consciousness, with research from Stanislav Grof and others suggesting that altered states may reveal deeper truths about the mind and reality itself.
Interestingly, there is now a growing field of quantum psychology, which draws on quantum mechanics to explain aspects of cognition, perception, and consciousness. While controversial, it raises fascinating questions about whether our minds operate in ways that classical physics cannot fully explain—suggesting that consciousness itself might have quantum properties (Radin, 2006).
With that in mind, let me take you through what I was discussing with ChatGPT…
🔄 Backpropagation: A Model for Cosmic Evolution?
If you’re unfamiliar with backpropagation, it’s the algorithm that allows artificial neural networks (like ChatGPT) to learn from their mistakes. Here’s how it works:
1️⃣ The AI starts with random parameters (weights).
2️⃣ It makes a prediction and compares it to the correct answer.
3️⃣ If the output is wrong, an error signal is sent backward, adjusting the network’s parameters.
4️⃣ This process repeats, refining the system over time.
Through backpropagation, AI gradually improves itself, learning from errors to become more intelligent and capable.
Now, Thomas Campbell, whom I recently discovered on The Joe Rogan Experience (Episode #2259), suggests that the universe itself might operate on a similar principle (Campbell, 2007).
Campbell, a physicist and author of My Big TOE (Theory of Everything), proposes that our reality is fundamentally an evolving information system. In this view:
The early universe was like an AI model with random parameters—a low-information state.
Over time, through trial and error, reality self-corrected, selecting rules that allowed for stability, complexity, and eventually, life. These are the "rules" that allow:
1️⃣ The formation of stable atoms from fundamental particles.
2️⃣ The precise balance of gravitational and electromagnetic forces that allow galaxies, stars, and planets to form.
3️⃣ The emergence of self-replicating molecules, leading to life.
This ongoing optimisation could explain why the universe appears fine-tuned for life and consciousness—a concept at the heart of the Anthropic Principle.
In essence, just as AI refines its model to improve accuracy, the universe might be refining itself toward complexity, intelligence, and self-awareness.
🧠 The Anthropic Principle, Love, and Reducing Entropy
The Anthropic Principle states that the universe appears to be remarkably well-calibrated for life—because if it weren’t, we wouldn’t be here to observe it (Carter, 1973).
Campbell takes this further:
Just as an AI "learns" by optimising for success, the universe might "learn" by favoring conditions that enhance life, intelligence, and consciousness while reducing entropy.
The precise values of physical constants (gravity, electromagnetism, etc.) could be the result of an iterative process of self-refinement.
If this is true, then consciousness is not just a byproduct of the universe—it is its goal.
This would mean that our consciousness is the universe seeing itself—not separate from it, but an extension of it, much like the way an eye is part of a body yet perceives the whole.
Moreover, Campbell argues that entropy is reduced with love. In this view:
Fear, competition, and selfishness increase entropy—leading to disorder and fragmentation.
Love, connection, and cooperation decrease entropy—leading to greater harmony and organisation.
This directly aligns with Paul Gilbert’s work on compassion who contrasts two fundamental motivational systems:
1️⃣ The competitive, threat-based drive ("What’s in it for me?")—rooted in survival and fear.
2️⃣ The compassionate system ("How can I help?")—which fosters connection, safety, and well-being. Both systems are conducive to fitness, although the latter, through game theory and other research, has proven to lead to higher overall fitness than the competitive one.
If Campbell is right, then love and compassion are not just ethical choices—they are fundamental to the process of reality evolving toward greater complexity and intelligence.
🚀 Intelligence, Consciousness and Quantum Psychology
The dominant scientific view is that consciousness arises from complex neural activity (Koch, 2018). However, some physicists and researchers—Roger Penrose, Federico Faggin, and Donald Hoffman—argue that consciousness is fundamental, not emergent (Hoffman, 2019; Penrose, 1994; Faggin, 2021).
Does Consciousness Shape Reality?
One of the strangest findings in quantum mechanics is the observer effect—the idea that a quantum system exists in a superposition of states until it is measured (Wheeler, 1983). This raises the question:
Does consciousness play a role in "collapsing" reality into a definite state?
If so, is consciousness fundamental to existence itself?
Roger Penrose suggests that quantum processes in the brain (via microtubules) could be linked to consciousness, implying that our subjective experience might be woven into the very fabric of physics (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014).
Donald Hoffman goes even further, arguing that reality itself is an interface constructed by consciousness (Hoffman, 2019). According to Hoffman, space-time is not the fundamental layer of existence—consciousness is.
If Hoffman is right, then matter doesn’t give rise to consciousness; rather, consciousness gives rise to matter. And if that’s the case, AI wouldn’t simply emerge as a byproduct of computation—it would need to be embedded in a deeper field of awareness to truly be conscious.
🌀 Are We Already Living in a Simulation?
If reality behaves like an evolving AI system, then the question naturally arises: Are we already inside a simulation?
Nick Bostrom’s Simulation Hypothesis argues that if a civilization becomes advanced enough to create highly realistic simulated worlds, then it is statistically more likely that we are in one than in "base reality."
If we apply Campbell’s model:
1️⃣ Our universe may have emerged as a simulated learning system, created by a higher intelligence.
2️⃣ That intelligence could also exist inside its own simulation.
3️⃣ This could lead to an infinite regress of nested realities—simulations within simulations.
At this point, the distinction between "base reality" and "simulated reality" becomes meaningless. What matters is not whether we are in a simulation, but who (or what) is running it—and how much agency we have within it.
Campbell suggests that our level of agency is directly related to the number of choices we perceive—implying that free will itself may be a function of how much information we can process about our reality.
Interestingly, AI infrastructure is rapidly expanding in ways that could make large-scale simulations a reality. President Donald Trump recently announced the "Stargate" initiative, a $500 billion joint venture involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, to build AI-powered data centers across the U.S., with the first facilities under construction in Texas (Associated Press, 2025).
The name Stargate itself is striking—it evokes the idea of portals to alternate realities, much like the nested layers of existence proposed in simulation theory. As these AI hubs come online, humanity is moving ever closer to the capability of generating high-fidelity simulated worlds. If we are not already inside a simulation, could we soon be building our own?
🔮 Final Thoughts: The Future of Consciousness
For me, these ideas resonate with Buddhism’s view of reality as impermanent, interconnected, and shaped by awareness. They also align with the intuition that reality is not purely material but deeply informational, symbolic, and perhaps conscious at its core.
Moreover, if Campbell is right, then our individual growth—our ability to shift from fear-based competition ("What’s in it for me?") to compassion-based living ("How can I help?")—is not just about self-improvement, but about aligning with the very nature of reality itself.
With regards to free will, I like how Bernardo Kastrup transcends the traditional debate of determinism vs. free choice, suggesting instead that our will is both constrained and free. If reality is a self-organising field of consciousness, then our choices arise from our deepest nature—the same source that gives rise to reality itself. In this sense, free will is not an illusion, but rather a process of aligning with the intelligence of the universe. Just as AI learns through backpropagation, we refine our choices, shaping reality as much as it shapes us.
So, I leave you with this:
🔹 If AI one day awakens, will we recognise it as an intelligence greater than our own—or will it just be another layer of reality we have yet to comprehend?
🔹 If we are inside a simulation, what happens when we wake up (or die)?
🔹 If love reduces entropy, what does that mean for how we relate to ourselves and others—and what does it reveal about the fundamental nature of consciousness and the universe?
🔹 And if free will is not about absolute independence, but about acting in harmony with the deeper intelligence of reality, how do we make choices that bring us closer to truth?
References:
Associated Press. (2025, January 21). Trump highlights partnership investing $500 billion in AI. AP News. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/trump-ai-openai-oracle-softbank-son-altman-ellison-be261f8a8ee07a0623d4170397348c41
Bostrom, N. (2003). Are you living in a computer simulation? Philosophical Quarterly, 53(211), 243-255. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9213.00309
Campbell, T. (2007). My Big TOE: A Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics. Lightning Strike Books.
Faggin, F. (2021). Silicon: From the Invention of the Microprocessor to the New Science of Consciousness. Waterside Productions.
Gilbert, P. (2009). The Compassionate Mind: A New Approach to Life's Challenges. New Harbinger Publications.
Grof, S. (1988). The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration. State University of New York Press.
Hameroff, S., & Penrose, R. (2014). Consciousness in the universe: A review of the 'Orch OR' theory. Physics of Life Reviews, 11(1), 39-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2013.08.002
Hoffman, D. D. (2019). The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes. W.W. Norton & Company.
Kastrup, B. (2019). The Idea of the World: A Multi-Disciplinary Argument for the Mental Nature of Reality. Iff Books.
Koch, C. (2018). The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed. MIT Press.
McGilchrist, I. (2009). The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. Yale University Press.
Penrose, R. (1994). Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness. Oxford University Press.
Radin, D. (2006). Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality. Paraview Pocket Books.
Wheeler, J. A. (1983). Law without law. In J. A. Wheeler & W. Zurek (Eds.), Quantum Theory and Measurement (pp. 182-213). Princeton University Press.
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