This year, we've decided to try something new and let TSC2023 participants choose the most convincing solution to the problem of consciousness. Similar to what has been done at other famous conferences regarding preferred interpretations of quantum mechanics or the origin of the universe, we have asked to the TSC2023 to to vote for which theory they think is most likely to explain consciousness! The voting took place during the conference (from May 22 to May 27). And the results have been the following!

In the end, the five theories that have successfully engendered the most substantial trust are, in sequence: 1) The Social Approaches to Consciousness, 2) Panpsychism, 3) Chalmer’s Dualistic Naturalism, 4) Manzotti’s Mind Object Identity, and 5) Hameroff’s ORCH OR. Interestingly, the final three theories got the same number of votes. The totality of voters amounts to 206, indicating that nearly every second participant has participated in the voting process. It is significant that almost all these philosophical stances imply a profound need to reassess the fundamental ontology of the physical world. A notable deviation from this trend is presented by the theory that won, namely the Social Approaches to Consciousness. However, this theory, in its own distinctive way, underscores significantly the role of consciousness in the fabric of social existence.