The study of human consciousness is one of science's last great frontiers.
The Science of Consciousness (‘TSC’) conference is the world’s longest running inter-disciplinary conference on broad and rigorous approaches to all aspects of the study and understanding off consciousness, the nature of existence and our place in the universe. TSC emphasizes broad and rigorous approaches to all aspects of the study and understanding of consciousness. Topical areas include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, biology, quantum physics, cosmology, meditation and altered states, AI/machine consciousness, culture and experiential phenomenology
In 1994, the first TSC Consciousness conference "Toward a Science of Consciousness" - now known as TSC - "The Science of Consciousness" was held in Tucson, Arizona at the University of Arizona Medical Center. TSC-1994 is widely regarded as a landmark event, and the subsequent series of biennial conferences in Tucson and alternate years abroad have attracted extraordinary interest. After being neglected for many years (i.e. during a period of dominance by behaviorism in psychology), interest in the science of consciousness exploded in the last decades, with much progress in neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and other areas. The University of Arizona has been at the center of these developments.
The Center for Consciousness Studies was formed in 1998 with a seed grant from the Fetzer Institute. The Center is a unique institution whose aim is to bring together the perspectives of philosophy, the cognitive sciences, neuroscience, the social sciences, medicine, and the physical sciences, the arts and humanities, to move toward an integrated understanding of human consciousness. The Center is unique in its broad spectrum approach. Other groups tend focus either on cognitive neuroscience, philosophy or purely phenomenal experiential approaches, whereas the Center not only integrates these areas, but "thinks outside the box" of conventional wisdom which has thus far, at least, failed to make significant breakthroughs. CCS also supports original research on consciousness, not only to understand the origins of consciousness, but to advance therapies for mental and cognitive disorders.
The Science of Consciousness (TSC) conferences (since 1994) are the pre-eminent world gatherings on all approaches to the profound and fundamental question of how the brain produces conscious experience, a question which addresses who we are, the nature of reality and our place in the universe. The Science of Consciousness is an interdisciplinary conference emphasizing broad and rigorous approaches to all aspects of the study and understanding of conscious awareness. Topical areas include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, biology, quantum physics, meditation and altered states, machine consciousness, culture and experiential phenomenology. Held annually since 1994, the conference is sponsored by the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, and alternates yearly between Tucson, Arizona and various locations around the world. The Center is well known for hosting the biennial conference: 'The Science of Consciousness,’ (‘TSC’) the world's largest and longest-running interdisciplinary conference addressing fundamental questions regarding consciousness, the brain, reality, and existence.
Held in Tucson Arizona in even-numbered years, TSC attracts 700 to 800 neuroscientists, philosophers, psychologists, artificial intelligence (AI) proponents, physicists, meditators, altered-state researcher, mystics and interested lay people from all over the world. In odd-numbered years the conference has been held in Italy, Denmark (twice), Japan, Sweden (twice), Czech Republic, Hungary, Hong Kong, India, Finland, San Diego and Switzerland. The 2020 Covid Consciousness was held online,
TSC has alternated yearly since 1994 between Tucson, Arizona USA and elsewhere including Italy, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Hong Kong, India, California, Switzerland, Finland, and Taormina, on the island of Sicily. The 2022 TSC was held April 18-22, 2022 as a hybrid event, with both 1) remote online live streaming, and 2) live in-person participation in Tucson. Taormina 2023; TSC 2025 was held Barcelona, Spain (July 6-11) preceding and in conjunction with The Festival of Consciousness (July 11-13).
We face a crossroads in the age-old study of consciousness. Over the past thirty years approaches to understanding consciousness have diverged along two distinct paths: 1) ‘neurocomputational’ views of the brain as a complex computer of simple neurons, a view compatible with AI systems becoming conscious, and 2) ‘funda-mental’ views in which consciousness is intrinsic to the universe, connected to the brain through quantum biology. Exploring the funda-mental view, TSC embraces neuroscience biology far more rigorously than AI-compatible simple neurons. Ironically, conscious AI may be most likely to occur in biomimetic quantum computers.