All in the mind

In a monastery in India, a monk and a neuroscientist debate the universe. The scientist is consciousness expert Christof Koch. The monk is the Dalai Lama. The men of science and religion discover they agree on almost everything.

Science keeps uncovering strange things in space. The latest is a ring of 65 moon-like structures orbiting a dying star. "This is the first time that anything has been seen in the habitable zoneAlso known as the Goldilocks zone. The range of orbits where the temperature is "just right" for liquid water. of a white dwarfMost stars in the Milky Way, including our own, will eventually burn themselves out and become these tiny dead stars, the size of Earth.", says Astrophysicist Jay Farihi.

These "stellar corpses" are unusual places to look for life. Farihi's team noticed the moons have "highly regular" orbits, something that doesn't happen accidentally. Farihi thinks an Earth-like planet's gravity is pulling them into formation.

He admits these structures could be evidence of "planetary engineering". Have we stumbled upon intelligent life?

That might depend on what we mean by intelligence. Is consciousness a fundamental part of the universe?

To conventional science, this sounds like superstition. "Consciousness is not a mystery," says philosopher Galen Strawson. "It is matter." The activity that goes on inside animal brains.

Neuroscientist Michael Graziano says it evolved around 300 million years ago. Humans have such rich inner lives we can't help but think everything around us is conscious: "storms, rivers, empty spaces, ghosts and gods."

Christof Koch calls this a "Great Silliness". He argued we can't draw a line between thinking and unthinking life.

Koch uses a scientific approach called Integrated Information TheoryConsciousness is measured by Φ or phi. The more complex and integrated something is, the more consciousness it has. to argue consciousness is everywhere.

It's an idea familiar to Buddhists, who believe the mind transcends the body. But it shouldn't be confused with Intelligent DesignSupporters believe that the universe and life are too complex to be the result of natural processes. - a pseudoscience that tries to disprove the theory of evolution.

The James Webb TelescopeLaunched late last year, the NASA telescope will observe the oldest and most distant formations in the universe., the world's most advanced eye on the universe, has begun to align its 18 gold-plated panels to take photos of deep space.

Jay Farihi hopes it will help us understand these structures and discover more. "In astronomy, if we find one, it usually means that it's common." But although telescopes are important, we may also need neuroscientists and a theory of consciousness, to know what we're looking for.

Is the universe conscious?

Yes: One thing we know for sure about matter is that some of it - us - has experiences. Unless we argue humans are unique in the universe, we must assume consciousness is intrinsic to matter.

No: This is animismThe religious belief that objects, places and creatures contain a soul or spiritual essence., not science. Consciousness evolved in complex animals. Expanding our definition to include non-living things does not help us understand them or consciousness better.

Or... Perhaps consciousness is not everywhere but nowhere. Some scientists argue it is just a side-effect of the unconscious workings of the mind. It is not fundamental to us or the working of the universe.