The Consciousness Atlas is an interactive web app that visualizes more
than 450 theories of consciousness. It is based on Robert Lawrence
Kuhn's 2024 paper,
"A Landscape of Consciousness". The Atlas maps theories that address phenomenal consciousness - the
subjective feel of experience, such as the redness of red.
What the Atlas is
The Atlas is a visual reference built on Kuhn's taxonomy. It presents
the full set of theories at once so you can explore the field visually
and open any theory to read its entry, like an encyclopedia with
structured entries. Each theory entry shows a concise identity line,
conceptual ground, suggested mechanism, empirical notes, implications,
and sources.
Why this exists
Consciousness is studied across disciplines - neuroscience,
philosophy, and sometimes spiritual or anomalous-state research.
Kuhn's paper collects and organizes hundreds of theories along a
spectrum from most physical to least physical. The Atlas puts that
organization into a visual form so readers, students, and researchers
can quickly see how different positions relate and where each theory
sits on the spectrum.
How it works
Theories are grouped into ten main categories, arranged by their
stance on the physical-to-nonphysical spectrum. Examples of categories
include Materialism, Non-Reductive Physicalism, Functionalism,
Quantum-based theories, Panpsychism, Monism, Dualism, Idealism,
Anomalous States, and Challenge Theories. The app shows the whole map
at once. Click any theory to read its structured entry, which includes
references to canonical sources and named thinkers.
Who it is for
- Students learning philosophy of mind and cognitive science
-
Researchers and lecturers looking for an at-a-glance comparative
resource
-
Journalists and writers who need a quick reference to the range of
positions
-
Curious readers who want a clear view of what people mean when they
talk about consciousness
What the Atlas does not do
The Atlas does not endorse or rank theories. It is a visualization and
reference based on Kuhn's taxonomy - collect and present, not judge.
It does not attempt to settle the hard problem of consciousness. It is
a tool for exploration and comparison.
A note from Kuhn
Kuhn explicitly states the project's purpose: "collect and categorize,
not assess and adjudicate." The Consciousness Atlas follows that
approach. The data and structure are derived from Kuhn's paper;
feedback and suggested corrections are welcome, but the app is a
visualization layer on top of Kuhn's work.
Kuhn was not involved in the design or content of the Consciousness
Atlas, other than his original paper, 'A Landscape of Consciousness,'
which is the sole source.
FAQ
What is phenomenal consciousness?
Phenomenal consciousness refers to subjective experience - the
qualitative feel of being aware, like the taste of coffee or the
redness of red.
How many theories does the Atlas include?
The Atlas visualizes over 220 individual theories, grouped into ten
broad categories.
Does the Atlas show which theory is true?
No. The Atlas presents theories neutrally. It is a map, not an
argument for any single position.
Is the Atlas academic?
The Atlas is based on an academic source - Robert Kuhn's 2024 paper,
"A Landscape of Consciousness" - and links to canonical sources
where available.
Summary
The Consciousness Atlas is a straightforward visualization tool: it
presents Kuhn's taxonomy as a single, explorable map and lets users
open individual theory entries to read structured, referenced
summaries. It is designed to make this complex field easier to survey
and to serve as a practical reference.
Integrated Info
Safron’s Integrated World Modeling Theory
Consciousness as Coherent Generative World Modeling
Adam Safron proposes that phenomenal consciousness is what it feels like to run a probabilistic generative model of one’s body and world that is coherent in space, time, and cause, and fast enough to inform and be informed by action. Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) combines Integrated Information Theory, Global Neuronal Workspace Theory, and the Free Energy Principle, arguing that none of them alone gives sufficient conditions for experience.
Adam Safron
What consciousness is
Phenomenal consciousness is a computational object: the spatiotemporally and causally coherent output of a generative model of an embodied agent’s sensorium, yielding perception when coupled to sense data and imagination when decoupled. Safron likens it to a ‘deep fake’ made of sensory states rather than pixels.
Mind and body
Consciousness supervenes on brain processes and is analyzed at three levels: computational/functional, algorithmic, and implementational/mechanistic.
Mechanism
Self-organizing harmonic modes (SOHMs): synchronous complexes of neural activity that arise as metastable attractors and serve both as dynamic cores of integrated information and as global workspaces.
Core claims
- Experience requires modeling that is coherent in space, time, and cause, conditions Safron draws from Kant’s preconditions for judgment.
- IIT and GNWT describe different systemic properties, for phenomenal consciousness and conscious access respectively, and both can be right.
- Neural synchrony and the brain’s rich-club organization can implement modules arranged into a workspace architecture.
- The framework has been extended to intentional behavior as enacted imagining, robotic control as generalized navigation, and psychedelic states as waking dreams.
Criticisms
Integrating many theories at once risks inheriting their disagreements and making the framework hard to falsify. The claim that generative modeling explains why there is something it feels like may restate rather than solve the hard problem.
Implications
- AI consciousness: Possible
- Safron suggests that once the substrates are specified precisely, conscious states could be realized in artificial body-minds.
- Survival beyond death: No
- Since experience is generated by an embodied organism’s modeling processes, it ends when those processes stop.
- Virtual immortality: Possible
- If consciousness is a kind of generative modeling, a system reproducing that modeling could in principle sustain it, though IWMT has not settled which implementations qualify.
Related theories
Sources
- Safron’s Integrated World Modeling Theory, Adam Safron
Explore all theories on the Consciousness Atlas
