Is consciousness fundamental?

Think about your favorite toy car. You put it on the floor, and it stays there because the floor is solid. But where did the "staying" come from? Is the solidity of the floor something special that only exists in our minds, or is it a real part of the universe itself? This is what scientists mean when they ask if consciousness is fundamental.

Consciousness is your ability to experience things like colors, sounds, and feelings. For a long time, people thought consciousness was just a side effect of your brain working hard, like steam coming off a hot engine. The engine (the brain) does all the heavy lifting, and the steam (consciousness) just floats away.

But some thinkers believe it is the opposite. They say that everything in the universe starts with a tiny bit of consciousness, similar to how every building is made of bricks. Even before you had a big human brain, the atoms around you might have had their own simple awareness. Your brain didn't create consciousness; it just collected and organized what was already there.

Imagine your life is a movie playing on a screen.

• Brain activity is like the video signal moving across the pixels. It changes fast with every action.
• Consciousness is the light shining from behind the screen that makes the colors visible.

If you turn off the TV, the signal stops, but does the light disappear? If consciousness is fundamental, it means the "light" exists everywhere in the universe, even if no one is looking at it. It is as real and basic as gravity or time. So, when you look at a tree, you are not just seeing it; you are connecting with a part of the world that has always been aware.