The Arithmetic of Consciousness: Exploring Schrödinger’s One-Mind Hypothesis and Its Modern Legacy

Erwin Schrödinger, a principal architect of quantum mechanics, extended his intellectual pursuits into the fundamental nature of life and consciousness. In his seminal works, he forwarded a provocative metaphysical thesis: consciousness is a singularity, experienced only in the singular and never in the plural. This paper reviews this ”One-Mind” hypothesis, tracing its origins from Schrödinger’s phenomenological reasoning to its deep resonance with the non-dual philosophy of Advaita Vedānta. We explore the central tenets of his argument—that the plurality of minds is a mistaken inference drawn from the plurality of bodies—and contrast this view with its primary challenges from modern neuroscience and analytic philosophy, including split-brain research and reductionist theories of self. We consider a synthesis of Schrödinger’s ideas with contemporary scientific frameworks. A speculative reconciliation is proposed between his top-down metaphysics and the bottom-up, mathematically rigorous Integrated Information Theory (IIT), framing IIT as a potential ”physics of Māyā” that describes the individuation of a universal consciousness. We then formalize Schrödinger’s concepts through computational and quantum-cognitive models, presenting a pseudocode simulation of his ”split-mind” thought experiment and proposing novel research hypotheses that bridge his density-matrix formalism with modern models of cognition. The paper offers a critique of the logical coherence of the One-Mind view, highlighting its philosophical value as a profound challenge to our most basic assumptions about selfhood, while acknowledging its limitations as a scientific theory. This synthesis charts the enduring legacy of Schrödinger’s inquiry, demonstrating its continued relevance in shaping the deepest questions at the intersection of physics, neuroscience, and philosophy. While new considerations test early perspectives, newer arguments demonstrate challenges and leave more to be explored.