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In 1990, the physicist David Bohm published a paper named "A new theory of the relationship of mind and matter" promoting a "panpsychist" theory of consciousness based on Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics."

Bohm's words: "everything material is also mental and everything mental is also material, but there are many more infinitely subtle levels of matter than we are aware of".

What does this exactly mean? Did Bohm mean that all what we imagine is real/physical? If yes, wouldn't that mean that every world/universe we can imagine (even if inconsistent) would physically exist, just as our universe? Was he saying that the universe is fundamentally information (in form of our mental states)?

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  • It does not mean that "all that we imagine" is real, it means that everything physical also has some mental capacity. What we imagine is not the "mental", it is what imagines it (mind, consciousness) that is. He is saying that even at the most basic level matter carries some rudimentary form of consciousness. It does not mean "universe is fundamentally information" (that does not make sense, information is a representation of something else), and it certainly does not need to be in the form of our mental states. Forms of the "mental" can be as different from each other as forms of matter. – Conifold Jun 11 '19 at 17:43
  • Bohm and J Krishnamurti talked dozens of times over 25 years. It would help to illuminate this question if looked from that angle... And then perhaps rephrase "mind" as "consciousness" and "matter" as "this (seemingly material) world" – Rusi-packing-up Jun 12 '19 at 4:03

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