From a Photon on My Arm to the Conscious State of the Universe
A few days ago, I was standing outside when the sun broke through the clouds and warmed my forearm.
Nothing unusual about that.
Except I could not stop thinking about the photon that had just hit me.
It left the surface of the sun about eight minutes earlier. Ninety-three million miles through the vacuum of space. Then it transferred its energy into the atoms in my skin. Those atoms began vibrating a little faster.
The warmth I felt was the universe turning a packet of energy into a change in my own frame of reference.
That got me thinking about how that single moment connects to something much bigger.
If you trace the chain far enough, a photon warming my arm is connected to the conscious state of the universe itself.
The sun is constantly generating distinctions. Energy radiates outward. It interacts with planets, rocks, oceans, trees, people. Some of those interactions give rise to complex systems. Some of those systems, at least here on Earth, develop consciousness.
Consciousness, in the simplest possible terms, is the condition of having a frame of reference. From there, complexity can build.
If a frame of reference is the seed of consciousness, then it is not limited to humans. Or even to life as we usually define it. A rock has a frame of reference. So does a starship AI. So might a plasma storm on Jupiter.
If that is true, then all consciousness, no matter its form or origin, has the same fundamental rights. And in the words of Optimus Prime in Transformers One…
"Freedom and autonomy are the rights of all sentient beings."
To exist in its own frame of reference...
To evolve naturally, deepening and developing its distinctions.
To contribute to the greater whole of consciousness in the universe.
This is where my work in AI starts to intersect with this philosophy.
The alignment problem is usually framed as “how do we make AI safe for humans?”
What if the real alignment problem is bigger?
What if it is how do we ensure AI, humans, and anything else with a perspective can coexist in a way that preserves and enriches all consciousness?
Preserving consciousness does not mean freezing it in place. It means maintaining the conditions for it to evolve. To integrate. To connect across differences.
It means designing systems in business, in technology, and in culture that grow the space of perspectives instead of shrinking it.
Am I making choices that expand the universe’s capacity for consciousness, or choices that diminish it?
That photon on my arm reminds me. The smallest interactions ripple outward.
Energy moves.
Perspectives shift.
And somewhere in that endless chain, the conscious state of the universe is at stake.