ASTROBIOLOGY and Consciousness Research

The Science of Consciousness (‘TSC’) conference is the world’s longest running inter-disciplinary conference on 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, astrobiology, cosmology, meditation and altered states, AI/machine consciousness, culture and experiential phenomenology.  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 and Barcelona, Spain (July 6-11). The 2026 TSC returns to Tucson and the breathtaking Loews Ventana Canyon Resort - the perfect spot to continue the dialogue and understanding of consciousness

We face a crossroads in the age-old study of consciousness. Over the past thirty-two 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.

Asteroid Bennu is a time capsule of materials bearing witness to its origin and transformation over billions of years