Consciousness Beyond Earthly Biochemistry: A Copernican Reframe
A philosophical study from UC Riverside argues that conscious experience may not be tied to carbon-based Earth biology and could arise in radically different substrates. The authors introduce 'substrate flexibility' and a 'Copernican principle of consciousness,' suggesting that consciousness could emerge in non-Earth life or future AI under the right evolutionary-like conditions. They caution this does not claim current AI is conscious and acknowledge many details remain unsettled, but the work broadens the scope of where consciousness might arise.