Quantum mechanics
works with extraordinary precision, but the measurement problem (what counts as an observation, and where the observer enters the formalism) has resisted resolution for nearly a century.
UpcomingJune 12, 2026Donald Hoffman + Andrew Gallimore at The Lighthouse Campus, Los AngelesJune 12, 2026 · Donald Hoffman + Andrew Gallimore
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The Trace Institute
Is consciousness more fundamental than spacetime?
An independent research institute approaching this question with the tools of physics, mathematics, and the philosophy of science.
We are building the science to find out.
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The thesis
Modern physics treats spacetime and matter as fundamental. The Trace Institute investigates the opposite hypothesis: consciousness is fundamental, and what we experience as the physical world is the interface through which conscious agents perceive and interact with each other.
Our work is mathematical and grounded in the peer-reviewed literature. The Institute brings together scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers of science developing a formal framework, Trace Logic, in which quantum mechanics and general relativity are conjectured to be recoverable as emergent features of conscious-agent dynamics.
The impasse
Modern physics is missing the observer.
Twentieth-century physics produced extraordinary descriptions of nature, and ran into hard walls. Each of those walls shares a structure: the observer is missing from the formalism.
General relativity
describes spacetime and gravity beautifully, but reconciling it with quantum theory remains the central open problem of fundamental physics.
The Standard Model
is the most precisely tested theory in science, and incomplete. It does not account for gravity, dark matter, dark energy, or the origin of its own structure.
The Trace Institute proposes to put the observer back.
The Eight Conjectures
A framework for the foundations of physics.
Eight formal conjectures direct the Institute's work. Together they describe a path from conscious agents to the standard models of physics and biology.
01 / 08
Conscious agents form the fundamental ontology
Reality, at its base, is composed of interacting conscious agents, not particles, fields, or spacetime points.
02 / 08
Spacetime emerges from agent dynamics
Space and time are not the stage on which physics unfolds. They are projections of the dynamics between conscious agents.
03 / 08
Quantum formalism derives from agent interactions
The mathematics of quantum mechanics is recoverable as a limit of the formal dynamics of conscious agent networks.
04 / 08
General relativity emerges from Trace Logic
Gravity and the curvature of spacetime arise as large-scale features of the same underlying logic governing agent dynamics.
The team
Working scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers.
Donald Hoffman
Research teamCognitive Scientist · UC Irvine
Chetan Prakash
Research teamMathematician · Cal State San Bernardino
Robert Prentner
Research teamPhilosopher of Science · Cognitive Sciences
Gaspard Giroud des Montagnes
Co-founderInstitute architect
Andrew Gallimore
Affiliated researcherNeurobiologist · Pharmacologist
Michael Levin
Affiliated researcherBiologist · Tufts University
Media
Conversations and lectures.
Donald Hoffman's appearances across podcasts, conferences, and lectures, alongside an expanding library of original work from the Institute.
Why now
The moment to fund and join.
01 / 03
The math is published.
Donald Hoffman and Chetan Prakash's work on conscious agent theory and the Fitness-Beats-Truth theorem is in the peer-reviewed literature. The mathematical groundwork is in place. The next phase is to build on it.
02 / 03
The roster is forming.
Frontier scientists across physics, biology, and the philosophy of science are taking the problem seriously. The work is becoming a collaboration, not a fringe.
03 / 03
The conversation is here.
Questions about consciousness, reality, and the limits of physical theory have entered mainstream science and public discourse for the first time in a generation.
The Institute is privately funded. The phase that follows is funded and joined by people who see it now.
Get involved
Three ways to engage.
Support
Fund the work.
Donations directly fund mathematical research, publication, public lectures, and the original media we produce.
Support TRACEJoin
Work with us.
Postdocs, visiting researchers, and collaborators across physics, mathematics, philosophy of science, and neuroscience.
Join the workFollow
Follow the research.
Public lectures, conversations, and original work from the Institute.
Watch and listen