Erwin Schrodinger — "The total number of minds in the universe is one. In fact, consciousness is a si…"
The total number of minds in the universe is one. In fact, consciousness is a singularity.
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More from Erwin Schrodinger
"The reason why our sentient, percipient and thinking ego is met nowhere within our scientific world picture can easily be indicated in seven words: because it is itself that world picture."
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About Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961)
Austrian physicist who shared the 1933 Nobel for the wave equation that bears his name and the famous cat thought-experiment. Closely associated with Werner Heisenberg (matrix-mechanics rival who reached the same physics by different math) and Albert Einstein (his pen-pal on quantum interpretation). For an intellectual contrast, see Niels Bohr, Danish physicist and architect of the Copenhagen interpretation — Schrödinger's cat thought-experiment was specifically designed to ridicule Bohr's 'observer-dependent reality' reading of quantum mechanics — Schrödinger thought the Copenhagen interpretation was absurd; the cat was meant as reductio ad absurdum.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
All conscious experience across every being is not separate but unified — one single field of awareness expressing itself through many apparent individuals. What feels like billions of distinct minds is actually one consciousness perceiving itself from different vantage points. The separateness we experience is an illusion; beneath individual identity lies a shared, indivisible substrate of awareness that connects everything.
Relevance to Erwin Schrodinger
Schrödinger, architect of quantum wave mechanics and the famous cat paradox, was deeply influenced by Vedantic philosophy. His 1944 book 'What is Life?' bridged physics and biology. He believed Western science neglected consciousness, and drew from Hindu Advaita Vedanta — particularly the concept of Atman equaling Brahman — to argue that the observer and observed cannot be truly separated in quantum measurement.
The era
Written in the mid-20th century amid quantum mechanics' revolution, this reflects a period when physics had shattered classical certainty. The Copenhagen interpretation raised urgent questions about the role of the observer in collapsing wave functions. Simultaneously, Eastern philosophy was entering Western intellectual circles. Schrödinger and contemporaries like Bohr and Heisenberg all grappled with consciousness as physics could no longer ignore the observer's role in reality.
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