Caelwyn had drawn three words on the paper.

WORLD → BRAIN → YOU

Stacy looked at it.

Stacy:
“You’ve solved consciousness.”

Caelwyn:
“I thought we’d get it out of the way before lunch.”

He added:

YOU → ?

Stacy:
“No.”

Caelwyn:
“I haven’t asked anything yet.”

Stacy:
“You’ve drawn a question mark. With you, that’s usually where the trouble starts.”

Caelwyn grinned.

Caelwyn:
“We know our senses only show us part of reality.”

Stacy:
“Yes.”

Caelwyn:
“And if consciousness turned out to be non-local?”

Stacy:
“That is a hypothesis. Not an established fact.”

Caelwyn:
“Thought experiment.”

Stacy:
“Proceed.”

He drew a box around everything.

Caelwyn:
“Suppose consciousness could reach beyond the brain. Would that prove we’re in a simulation?”

Stacy:
“No.”

Caelwyn:
“Another dimension?”

Stacy:
“No.”

Caelwyn:
“God?”

Stacy:
“No.”

Caelwyn:
“Then what would it prove?”

Stacy took the pen.

She drew a question mark outside his box.

Stacy:
“That our map was smaller than the territory.”

Caelwyn:
“And then?”

Stacy:
“Then we make a better map.”

AND WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We do not currently have established evidence that human consciousness can exist or act independently of the brain.

But suppose one day we did.

What would you change first: your theory of consciousness — or your theory of reality?

Undiscovered physics? A deeper informational structure? Something spiritual? A simulation? Or none of them until the evidence tells us more?

Different views are welcome. Disagreement is welcome. Spam, trolling and personal attacks are not.