Consciousness may arise in systems far different than the biology on Earth we are used to, according to University of California, Riverside (UCR) researchers, who argue that many forms of conscious experience may be possible in alien lifeforms.
Eric Schwitzgebel of UCR worked with Jeremy Pober, a former graduate student, not to understand what consciousness is, but rather, to explore whether it could arise in beings that differ radically from Earth’s biological standards.
At a time when questions about the possibility of alien life visiting Earth are on many minds, their work examines what unexpected forms might achieve consciousness—the first step toward intelligence.
Substrates and Consciousness
Central to the pair’s work is the idea of “substrates,” from the Latin for “the level below,” referring to the underlying material base from which something is made. Although the term may be most familiar from geology, it can be applied conceptually across many disciplines, from biology to linguistics, to describe an underlying structure or form.
The researchers framed their core question around what they call “substrate flexibility”: can a specific property be achieved across many substrates, or is it more limited? One example they use is computer data storage. Information can be stored in many ways, including optical, magnetic, and solid-state media, indicating that storage exhibits a high degree of substrate flexibility.
But what about consciousness? Can it also be achieved flexibly? Perhaps the answer depends on the specificity of the question and whether we are considering human consciousness or a broader concept of consciousness itself.
A Diverse Universe
The researchers began by considering the scale and nature of our universe as it is presently understood. That includes roughly a trillion galaxies containing countless planets unlike our own, which they estimate may have given rise to more than a thousand alien civilizations during the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang. Notably, they do not focus solely on Earth-like planets that might theoretically harbor biological life recognizable to us.
“With that many draws from the lottery, some of these life forms will be strange indeed,” the pair writes in their paper.
This idea is not far-fetched, as astrobiologists have long hypothesized that life in the cosmos may take forms radically different from those on Earth, composed of available local materials, possibly including entirely different chemical structures.
The pair does not argue that such exotic lifeforms definitely exist in some corner of the universe, only that, in such a large and diverse universe, it is relatively unlikely that the same building blocks would commonly arrange themselves in precisely the same way as on Earth.
Consciousness Isn’t Special
Taking inspiration from the idea of Nicholas Copernicus, the researchers argue that since the Earth, and thereby humanity, are not the center of the universe, it is likely that consciousness is also not a unique feature of our planet, or even recognizable biology.
However, the authors are quick to note that simply because consciousness may exist in multiple substrates does not mean it must exist in every substrate. AI systems, for example, may represent a form of silicon-based life, but they are not necessarily conscious at present. Additionally, perhaps how they are conscious should be considered more broadly, taking into account the variety of possible substrates, rather than simply assessing how well AI models the human brain.
That broader perspective is a crucial element of the pair’s conclusions. Consciousness should be considered in terms wider than simply assessing how well something replicates the human mind. While the authors concede that a similar substrate may be required to perfectly reproduce human consciousness, a broader view of the phenomenon may be necessary to recognize forms of consciousness that are fundamentally alien to our own.
The paper, “Substrate Flexibility and the Copernican Principle of Consciousness,” appeared in draft form on the University of California, Riverside website on May 28, 2026.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.