It seems to me Max Tegmark is assuming that consciousness is a state of matter, and looking at what properties that matter must have. Hence he doesn't have an explanatory theory, just an assumption. It is a materialist assumtpion, I guess similar to Hugh Everett III's viewpoint when he considers observers in his relative state formulattion, the question is whether this matters - I'd say not in the case of Everett, who is only trying to account for why certain experimental outcomes are observed, but this does become important when one is trying to actually explain consciousness, which Tegmark is attempting. "We examine the hypothesis that consciousness can be understood as a state of matter". Hence the results of making this assumption are crucial to justifying it - does he end up with new and interesting insights into the subject? Can he distinguish a conscious being from an unconscious but clever robot? I have only read a couple of pages so far, so I will read on with interest...
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