Everything You See Is a Lie: How Your Consciousness Creates Your Reality! | Dr. Donald Hoffman

To illustrate, Hoffman compares this to playing a VR game where the vivid, detailed objects—such as cars or landscapes—do not physically exist inside the computer running the game. They only appear within the headset of the player. Similarly, the "red Mustang" one perceives in the game isn't represented as such in the underlying hardware. Translating this to our existence, Hoffman argues that objects like the moon do not exist independently of conscious observation; their existence is tied strictly to perception. This idea profoundly challenges traditional assumptions that space and time constitute the foundational bedrock of reality and pushes listeners to reconceive their entire lived experience.

Why Spacetime is Doomed

Hoffman aligns his thesis with cutting-edge insights from high energy theoretical physics, which reveals that spacetime breaks down at the Planck scale. Beyond these scales, spacetime loses operational meaning, and existing physics cannot describe what occurs. This is a recognized crisis signaling that spacetime itself is not fundamental and that new theoretical frameworks are urgently needed.

Interestingly, Hoffman points out that physicists have started to discover "positive geometries"—mathematical objects outside of spacetime whose volumes encode particle interactions observed in spacetime. Yet, these remain static, mysterious constructs without a clear dynamical mechanism or interpretation. While these developments originate strictly within rigorous physics, they confirm a long-standing intuition present in spiritual and mystical traditions that reality is deeper and more expansive than space and time suggest.

Science and Spirituality

The dialogue emphasizes a fascinating crossroads where modern physics and ancient spirituality converge. Hoffman stresses that both camps agree on the non-fundamentality of spacetime, but approach the problem differently. Scientists apply precise mathematical tools and experiments, while spiritual traditions bring centuries of experiential and meditative wisdom, though often lacking formal mathematical frameworks.

Hoffman advocates for merging the strengths of both perspectives by pursuing a rigorous mathematical theory of consciousness that explains how spacetime and the physical world emerge from a deeper, experiential reality. He highlights the historical divide resulting from figures like Galileo clashing with religious dogma but suggests that now, after centuries, science and spirituality might finally approach mutual understanding. The convergence is poised to offer new philosophical insights and potentially revolutionary technological possibilities rooted in consciousness rather than matter.

Perception as a Survival Tool

Evolutionary biology and game theory play a crucial role in Hoffman's analysis of why humans perceive the world the way they do. Contrary to the popular assumption that evolution drives organisms to see reality "as it truly is," Hoffman's research demonstrates through mathematical models that natural selection favors perceptions tuned to fitness payoffs, which often bear no relation to objective truth. His team's rigorous proofs show that the probability that evolution shapes sensory systems to accurately reflect the true structure of the world is effectively zero.

This means that perception is more like a user interface that simplifies and hides the complexities of reality to optimize survival and reproductive success. Hoffman uses examples such as jewel beetles attracted to beer bottles mistaking them for mates, illustrating how evolution prioritizes utility over veracity. This evolutionary trade-off explains why humans live immersed in a rich but ultimately constructed sensory world that disguises the true nature of existence.

Consciousness

A central pillar of Hoffman's argument is a rejection of the materialist claim that consciousness arises solely from physical processes in the brain. He challenges the idea that computational or neural correlates alone can explain subjective experience, emphasizing that no currently known physical or computational system can account for the richness of conscious phenomena, such as the distinct sensory quality of tasting mint or seeing a specific shade of color.

He asserts that consciousness must be taken as fundamental, a starting point rather than an emergent byproduct. This stance requires a radical shift in scientific paradigms, compelling researchers to develop mathematically rigorous models of conscious experience itself and how physical reality, including spacetime, can be derived from interactions among conscious agents. This shift bridges the "hard problem" of consciousness with physics and underpins a more expansive understanding of existence.

Conscious Agents

Hoffman's current scientific work involves representing conscious experiences through the formalism of Markov chains—a mathematical framework describing probabilistic transitions between states. Each state corresponds to a possible experience, and the probabilities encode how one experience leads naturally to others. This model does not arise from physical brain processes but starts directly with consciousness as primitive.

By studying the properties and relationships among these conscious agents, Hoffman and his colleagues have discovered a newly identified "trace logic," which mathematically formalizes how multiple consciousnesses interrelate, combine, and expand into more complex systems. Importantly, this framework aims to demonstrate that Einsteinian spacetime—including phenomena like time dilation and length contraction—can emerge naturally as statistical projections of these underlying conscious interactions. This approach represents a breakthrough in modeling the observer itself, a missing piece from current physics.

Collective Consciousness

In exploring the relationships among conscious agents, Hoffman reveals that collections of consciousness behave in a mathematically precise manner characterized by an infinite hierarchy. Unlike simplistic notions of a single "collective consciousness," his model supports an unending network of interconnected conscious agents of various scopes and complexities, echoing the idea of an infinite and boundless awareness.

This mathematical infinite expansion resonates with spiritual concepts of God or ultimate reality as infinite and without end. Hoffman connects his mathematical findings with ancient wisdom, noting that in Hebrew tradition one name for God means "there is no end." Thus, the theory not only provides a physical explanation for the emergence of spacetime but also offers a deep unification of scientific and mystical insights into the oneness and interconnectedness underlying perceived separateness.

Implications for Technology

Should Hoffman's theoretical framework prove correct, it paves the way for transformational technologies operating beyond the constraints of physical spacetime. Analogous to possessing the source code of a virtual reality game, having the "software" of the conscious universe would allow profound manipulation of the perceived world—potentially enabling teleportation, language downloads, immortality-like regeneration, and instantaneous travel across intergalactic distances.

This prospect turns traditionally impossible scenarios into realizable technologies by "rewriting the laws of the headset" that constitute reality as we know it. Such a paradigm offers hope not only for scientific progress but also for unprecedented improvements in human well-being and experience. Yet, Hoffman acknowledges that harnessing this power entails ethical responsibilities and risks akin to "playing God," with the potential for misuse or harm if wielded irresponsibly.

Understanding Anomalous Phenomena

The conversation touches on reports of psychic phenomena, telepathy, near-death experiences, and psychedelic states that hint at experiences beyond ordinary spacetime. While Hoffman remains a cautious scientist demanding rigorous theories and repeatable experiments, he concedes that his model provides a framework within which such phenomena might be better understood scientifically rather than dismissed outright.

By interpreting anomalous experiences as glimpses beyond the "headset," or as temporary relaxations of the brain's filter on consciousness, this approach reconciles mystical experiences with rigorous inquiry. It offers a way to contextualize altered states of consciousness, such as those induced by psilocybin or DMT, as legitimate pointers to deeper realities accessible through meditation or advanced scientific methods.

Science, and Spirituality

Throughout the discussion, Hoffman recognizes the emotional and intellectual challenges in accepting these ideas. Individuals are deeply attached to their bodies and sense of self, making the suggestion that objects—bodies included—do not exist independently when unobserved psychologically disconcerting. He advocates for a compassionate, open-minded journey toward "unchaining ourselves" from these limited viewpoints, drawing parallels to centuries of spiritual practices aimed at transcending the ego.

Moreover, Hoffman envisions that as scientific understanding evolves, it may validate core spiritual teachings—such as the fundamental unity underlying all beings—and encourage broader societal shifts in empathy and cooperation. Yet, he realistically anticipates that human nature's tendencies toward self-centeredness and conflict will persist, necessitating deliberate efforts to integrate expanded awareness into daily life.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence

Finally, Hoffman contrasts the current state of artificial intelligence with the ultimate quest for a mathematical theory of consciousness. Despite the impressive capabilities of AI language models, he underscores that they lack true understanding or subjective experience—they operate through pattern-matching and correlation rather than genuine awareness.

He challenges AI's proponents to provide theories articulating how specific conscious experiences could arise computationally, a task still far beyond current science. This distinction highlights the importance of continuing to develop models that ground consciousness as fundamental rather than emergent, retaining human centrality in the study of mind and reality, while leveraging technology as a tool rather than a replacement for true awareness.