6.4 Why might we never have an explanation for consciousness?

Conscious experience is subjective. It may never be possible to know what it’s like to be another person or animal, or indeed artificial intelligence that is functioning as a conscious being (unless we develop the ability to mind meld like the Vulcans in Star Trek!)

Some thinkers even suggest that our experience of consciousness is just an illusion. Some believe that the hard problem of consciousness is intrinsically unsolvable – this is the philosophical position of ‘mysterianism’.

The 17th century philosopher René Descartes believed that the mind of conscious thought and the physical brain are fundamentally different in nature, and that the interaction between them can’t be explained. This is the so-called ‘mind-body problem’. Contemporary experiments show that there are correlations between physical processes in the brain and the subjective experience of the mind. But could there be a true causal connection, and can we prove it?

Studying such a vastly complex and subjective phenomenon through objective experimental means certainly poses an immense challenge. But scientists working in the field are optimistic that we will be able to bridge the gap between the physical and mental. This may well be achieved in due course. But on the other hand, perhaps when it comes down to it, our brains just aren’t capable of fully understanding themselves!