Erik Hoel launches Bicameral Labs, a nonprofit to make consciousness science falsifiable
erikphoel · x · 2026-10-03
Cognitive science writer Erik Hoel has founded Bicameral Labs, a nonprofit research organization aiming to transform consciousness science from pre-paradigmatic to a falsifiable discipline.
- Motivation: AI increasingly matches or surpasses human intelligence, but without a theory of consciousness we are "flying blind" morally and scientifically about machine consciousness and what makes humans special. Hoel predicts a "consciousness revolution in the 2030s or even earlier."
- The problem: Hundreds of neuroscientific theories of consciousness exist, yet empirical testing has ruled out none — because the field can't yet produce falsifiable theories.
- Approach: Lead an international consortium of neuroscience labs, starting with meta-scientific "no-go theorems" for consciousness theories, high-quality datasets, and experiments designed to narrow the space of possible theories rather than vindicate any single one.
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