Theory of Conscious Unicity in the Infinite Field
Supposing space and time to be infinite and cyclic, as theorized by Linde and Penrose, the probability that the same molecular arrangement as the one existing right now will reoccur becomes certain. The probability that “you” will read this very line again becomes certain as well.
But the real question is this:
Is that truly you?
Is it the same qualia?
The answer, like many others in philosophy is simple - I don’t know. And maybe that’s the only true answer this side of experience.
I only know consciousness exists because I experience it. I can’t prove anyone else has it - I can only infer.
Qualia isn’t just hard to define; it’s untranslatable into mechanical or functional terms.
Maybe it’s a fundamental property of the universe, like space or time.
Maybe it only emerges when complexity crosses a certain threshold. I don’t know.
But I do know this: even without knowing what it is, it serves us.
In an infinite universe, even without repetition, Boltzmann imagined that random fluctuations could produce anything - even a conscious brain, complete with memories and a sense of self.
That means what feels like a life could be just a one-time glitch in entropy. But if that were the case - if I’m just a fluctuation - then I have no past. And without continuity, there's no real I. There’s form - but no presence.
The question isn’t whether something that looks like me can exist. It’s whether that thing has access to the same window I’m looking from now.
So, we have some certainty that we are here, in the present moment, inhabiting this mind, with this qualia.
But we don’t - and maybe can’t - know if this same qualia inhabits other selves, even if they are perfect molecular repetitions.
Deep down, this leans toward the idea of qualia as a fundamental property of the universe - not just a byproduct of complexity, but a condition of presence itself.
And if that’s true, then presence is not duplicated. It’s localized, absolute and unshareable.
Even in an infinite cosmos, what matters is not how often I appear - but whether I have access.
Form may recur. But this access, right now - this moment of self-aware being - may not.
Of one thing we can be certain: right now, qualia inhabits.
To say it existed before birth, survives death, or leaps across parallel universes - that’s speculation.
Consciousness is presence. And presence isn’t something to prove - it’s something to live.
Comments