Beyond Biocentrism. Robert Lanza

      INTRODUCTION

      Why do you insist the universe is not a conscious intelligence,

      when it gives birth to conscious intelligences?

      —Cicero, c. 44 BCE

      The deepest, most vexing issues have not changed much since the beginning of civilization. People eight thousand years ago worried about death. Those in ancient Babylonia shared with us an obsession with the passage of time. Thinkers in every culture have pondered Earth and the heavens and generally have seen them as existing in a space-based matrix. The nature of life and consciousness started to obsess us as soon as we came down from the forest roof and grew brains large enough to be tormented.

      Tackling these big-ticket items has properly become a focus for science as well. Our first book, Biocentrism, offered a very different way of looking at the universe and reality itself. Because this perspective is so unlike the descriptions we are accustomed to, it takes some time and thought to comprehend. That’s what this book is about.

      This way of thinking starts by recognizing that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries. Science tells us with some precision that over 95 percent of the universe is composed of dark matter and dark energy, but it must confess that it doesn’t really know what dark matter is and knows even less about dark energy. Science points more and more toward an infinite universe but has no ability to explain what that means. Concepts such as time, space, and even causality are increasingly being demonstrated as meaningless.

      All of science is based on information passing through our consciousness, but science doesn’t have a clue what consciousness is. Studies have repeatedly established a clear link between subatomic states and observation by conscious observers, but science cannot explain this connection in any satisfactory way. Biologists describe the origin of life as a random occurrence in a dead universe, but have no real understanding of how life began or why the universe appears to have been exquisitely designed for its emergence.

      This new worldview is completely based on science and is better supported by the scientific evidence than traditional explanations. It challenges us to fully accept the implications of the latest scientific findings in fields ranging from plant biology and cosmology to quantum entanglement and consciousness.

      If we listen to what the science is telling us, it becomes ever more clear that life and consciousness are fundamental to any true understanding of the universe. This new perception of the nature of the universe is called biocentrism.

      If you read Biocentrism, welcome back for a deeper and more thorough exploration into the subject, including chapters that solely involve key issues such as death, and important ancillary investigations into topics such as awareness in the botanical world, how we gain information, and whether machines can ever become conscious.