Consciousness as emergent property of complex systems: Rethinking physics’ reductionist paradigm through panpsychism and quantum biology
Original framing: “Is consciousness more fundamental to reality than quantum physics?” — New Scientist
Indigenous cosmologies universally reject the Cartesian split between mind and matter, framing consciousness as an intrinsic property of the cosmos (e.g., Lakota wakan, Māori mauri, or Hindu prakriti-purusha). These systems treat 'fundamentality' as a relational process, not a hierarchical one, where observation itself is participatory. The omission of these frameworks in Western debates reveals a colonial epistemology that devalues non-Western ways of knowing as 'pre-scientific' rather than alternative scientific paradigms.
The 'quantum consciousness' debate is a symptom of a deeper crisis in Western science: its inability to reconcile materialism with the lived experience of mind.
Indigenous traditions, from the Amazon to Australia, offer a corrective—consciousness as a relational field, not a foundational brick—but this knowledge is systematically excluded by institutional gatekeeping. The real frontier is not whether consciousness is fundamental, but how to design sciences that honor its multiplicity: from the quantum coherence in photosynthesis to the communal dreaming of the San people. This requires dismantling the colonial epistemology that treats non-Western thought as 'primitive' rather than parallel, and replacing it with a pluriversal science where observation is participatory, not extractive. The trickster’s lesson is clear: the universe’s biggest mystery may not be 'what is fundamental,' but 'who gets to decide what counts as evidence.