Big Science

World's Smartest Physicist Thinks Science Can't Crack Consciousness   
Scientific American - August 18, 2016


String theorist Edward Witten says consciousness will remain a mystery. Some mind-ponderers, notably philosopher Colin McGinn, argue that consciousness is unsolvable. Philosopher Owen Flanagan calls these pessimists mysterians, after the 60Õs-era rock group Question Mark and the Mysterians. Recently, physicist Edward Witten came out as a mysterian. Witten is regarded with awe by his fellow physicists, some of whom have compared him to Einstein and Newton. He is largely responsible for the popularity of string theory over the past several decades. String theory holds that all of nature's forces stem from infinitesimal particles wriggling in a hyperspace consisting of many extra dimensions.