The End of Consciousness

This is a personal reflection on why I believe the science of consciousness may be taking a pernicious turn. The primary issue lies in the continued conflation of our supposed target phenomenon—subjective experience—with general cognitive and perceptual processes. As a result, much of the current research is conceptually off-target and insufficiently constrained by the relevant empirical evidence. This confusion, about the supposed subject matter itself, allows for the overinterpretation of findings and promotion of one’s personal worldviews as being supported by science. Unlike in other disciplines, where hyperbolic media activity can be dismissed as mere ‘noise,’ in this field it significantly influences funding and editorial decisions—and, by extension, jobs, and also the peer review process. This has made meaningful research increasingly difficult, and the clarification of the said conceptual confusion increasingly unlikely. I am not optimistic that we can ever resolve these systemic issues. However, by laying out the situation in some detail, we might better navigate how to move the science of subjective experience forward.