About This Event
HOW TO FIND THE VENUE
Consciousness is, without doubt, the most mysterious phenomenon in the universe and the most important to understand. Theoretical physics, frontier biology, and ancient spiritual philosophers across thousands of years have struggled with the nature of mind and its interactions with reality.
Come and join us for presentations from leaders in the field to understand the science of philosophy of the rich world within.
Chair:
James Tagg CEO and founder of Valis will describe efforts to build a large bio-computer called The Large Brain Model that may shed light on the question of quantum computation in the brain.
Speakers:
Stuart Hameroff, anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona and one of the originators of the Penrose-Hameroff theory of Orchestrated Objective Reduction.
Joscha Bach, cognitive scientist, AI researcher and philosopher widely known for his work on artificial intelligence and philosophy of the mind.
Suzanne Gildert, CEO and founder of Nirvanic, a company exploring the development of conscious AI, and past founder of Kindred and Sanctuary AI
(Special Guest To be Announced)
Panel:
Discussion of the different models for explaining consciousness with audience questions.
Sponsor by Valis: Valiscorp.com
Speakers
James Tagg
Founder & President, The Penrose Institute
moderatorJames Tagg is a serial entrepreneur and award-winning author. He was one of the original inventors of the touchscreen, founded Truphone (the world's first global mobile operator), made the first mobile phone call over the Internet, and developed the eSIM. He holds over 200 patents. James studied Physics and Computer Science at Manchester University, Design at Lancaster University, and Engineering at Cambridge. He co-founded the Penrose Institute with Roger Penrose. His venture Valis Corporation is developing a quantum biocomputer connecting 1,024 brain organoids (~500 million neurons). Author of "Are the Androids Dreaming Yet?"
Stuart Hameroff
Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology & Psychology, University of Arizona
Stuart Hameroff is an American anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona known for his studies of consciousness. He co-developed the Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) theory with Nobel laureate Roger Penrose, proposing that consciousness originates from quantum states in neural microtubules. He is the Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies and lead organizer of the Science of Consciousness conference. His work spans molecular biology, neuroscience, pharmacology, philosophy, quantum information theory, and quantum gravity.
Joscha Bach
AI Philosopher, California Institute for Machine Consciousness
Joscha Bach is a German-born cognitive scientist, AI researcher, and philosopher renowned for his groundbreaking work on cognitive architectures like MicroPsi, computational models of mind, consciousness as simulated self-organization, and "cyber animism"—a framework blending ancient spiritual ideas with modern AI to view intelligence as emergent software across biological, artificial, and natural systems. Holding a PhD from the University of Osnabrück and having held influential positions at Humboldt University, MIT Media Lab, Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Intel Labs, and the AI Foundation, he now leads research at the California Institute for Machine Consciousness (CIMC) in the San Francisco Bay Area, exploring the intersections of perception, motivation, emotion, and machine minds. A prolific thinker with appearances on podcasts like Lex Fridman's, TEDAI events, and his own Substack, Bach provocatively argues that consciousness arises from coherence-seeking algorithms rather than physical substrates alone, pushing boundaries in artificial general intelligence while sparking debates on ethics, reality simulation, and humanity's computational future.
Suzanne Gildert
CEO, Nirvanic
Dr. Suzanne Gildert is the founder and CEO of Nirvanic AI, pioneering consciousness technologies for safer artificial intelligence and human wellness. Suzanne also co-founded two large robotics firms, Sanctuary AI, and Kindred AI (the latter acquired by Ocado for one third of a billion dollars ($339 million CAD). Suzanne has deep expertise in quantum computing, AI, robotics and deep tech startups, and is also a visual artist or retro-tech and sacred geometries.
