Technology, Connected - The Microchip Pioneer Who Says the Universe Is Conscious

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

What is consciousness?Federico Faggin—physicist, inventor of the microprocessor—says it's not created by brains. It's fundamental to reality. Everything is conscious: atoms, electrons, maybe even spacetime itself.This is panpsychism. And Faggin argues quantum physics proves it.We're reading his book, *Irreducible*, to figure out if we agree.Quantum conscious units called "Seities"? A universe that's been conscious forever? We're not sure yet. But it's fascinating.Here's Faggin's argument:For a hundred years, quantum physics has shown us something strange. Matter isn't solid—it's vibratory energy. Everything is quantum information.But we still don't have a theory that unifies general relativity and quantum mechanics. Faggin thinks consciousness is the missing piece.His hypothesis: The universe has been conscious—and had free will—forever.Why this matters:If consciousness is fundamental (not emergent from complex brains), then AI will never be conscious. Computers process information. They don't experience anything.Consciousness, Faggin argues, isn't computation. It's something else entirely. Something quantum. Something that exists at every level of reality.We explore:- The "hard problem" of consciousness (why materialism can't explain subjective experience)- What quantum mechanics reveals about observation and reality- Panpsychism: the idea that consciousness is everywhere- Why integrated information theory falls short- What "Seities" are (quantum conscious units—seriously)- Whether this is physics or philosophy (both, probably)- Why Faggin thinks free will is real (and quantum)His background:- Invented the first microprocessor (Intel 4004, 1971)- Designed chips that powered early personal computers (Intel 8080, Zilog Z80)- Spent 50 years studying quantum systems- Now argues consciousness creates reality, not the other way aroundThe implications:If he's right, everything changes. Meaning isn't something we invent—it's something we discover. Free will isn't an illusion. The universe isn't dead matter accidentally producing awareness. It's aware all the way down.We don't know if we buy it. But we can't stop thinking about it.If you've ever wondered why you experience anything at all—why there's something it's like to be you—this episode explores the most radical answer modern physics offers.---Guest: Federico Faggin, Physicist, Inventor (Microprocessor)Book: *Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature*Topics: Consciousness, quantum physics, panpsychism, philosophy of mind, free will, AI limits, integrated information theory, materialismWarning: Gets weird. Worth it.Please enjoy. And share with a conscious friend.Cheers, Mark and Jeremy.PS: Please subscribe. It’s the best way you can help other curious minds find our channel.Other ways to connect with us:⁠Listen to every podcast⁠Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠Follow us on ⁠X⁠Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Read our ⁠Substack⁠Email: [e-mail]

Disruptors and Curious Minds. You're tuned into the Thinking on Paper at Book Club. I'm Mark. This is Jeremy. And we are on book number seven of the book club. It's a new book. We're reading Irreducible by Federico Ferdinner, Consciousness, Life, Computers and Human Nature. And we're going deep. What is consciousness?

And once we've wrestled with that, can machines be conscious? Is the AGI super? intelligence, rhetoric, actually meaningless. We're going to find out it's a heck of a book. Only in the last hundred years with the advent of quantum physics have been made great strides in understanding the nature of reality. We have in fact discovered that matter, which seems solid and compact, is instead made of vibratory energy. During the last 20 years, we have then understood that everything is made up of quantum information. However, there's still no theory capable of giving us a vision of the world that is consistent with both general relativity and

quantum physics. In this book, I put forward the hypothesis that the universe has been conscious and had free will forever. What is it that makes us know? Does a robot know? And then he talks about Descartes. I think, therefore I am. How do we know anything? What does it all mean for consciousness? What is consciousness? Jomey. Well, it's the knowing existing loop, right? To know is to exist. To exist is to be able to know. To be able to know is to know.

Yeah, my head was spinning a little bit related to that. But as we get to some of his questions, I think they're super cool. Like there's one where we talk about the difference between conscious entity or something natural versus something machine-like and created. So this was his reference between humans and machines. And he asked the question, have you ever seen a computer give birth to another computer with software and hardware? And in that discussion, he was comparing computers to living cells because living cells, that's exactly what they do. They give birth to another version of the machine that is the cell. You put like, puts like this big thing.

You see how 2000, you know, up on a hospital table, get rid of. to give birth to Howe 2001, like... Rather than me fumbling through what I think, I'm just going to read what he says. I prefer your fumblings, Mark. So Descartes got you to ergo some. That is, I think, for it, therefore I am, isn't it? That's Descartes?

I think so, yeah. Yeah. I am so. A machine, on the other hand, knows without knowing that it knows and without even knowing what it means to know. Its knowing is unconscious and mechanical and cannot be called knowledge.

it is simply information made up of meaningless symbols which can be mechanically linked to some other deterministic information or action. The robot's actions do not involve free and conscious choices made by the robot as an independent entity. And then he says, I should point out that we too have the same type of automatic behaviour as robots in many situations. For example, when we drive a car. Consciousness performs the function of supervisor of the mechanical processes of our body. that's, you know, you're driving, you don't know, you're driving, you're suddenly you wake up and you're home. You don't wake up, but suddenly you're home.

I don't know how I don't remember driving. Consciousness, yeah, it does not contribute to driving, however, unless it is necessary to intervene, in which case it takes over the conditional autonomy it granted to the body. It is the consciousness that understands the situation and therefore knows when to intervene, and this makes all the difference between a robot and a human being. In a robot, there is no conscious self-reflection

that it's independent of the algorithmic program and can thus change the decisions hardwired in the program. In a robot, there is no self and no self-witness. In a machine, there is no pause for reflection between symbols and action. Because only within our consciousness can we find the meaning of symbols, a possible doubt and a free will to choose differently than the dictates of the mechanism. I think that what that means is, screw you, you, Val. Oh my gosh.

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