The Molecules Of His Brain

"Through and through him that mental vision seared, down to the very molecules of his brain, his life lay open to Them in a white flame of incandescence."

-Poul Anderson, "Flight to Forever" IN Anderson, Past Times (New York, 1984), pp. 207-288 AT CHAPTER SIX, p. 281.

Merely seeing the molecules of Saunders' brain will not show anyone his life. However, the vision is described as "mental" which implies that "the gods," as he thinks of Them, see not only his cerebral molecules but also his mentality.

Consciousness is irreducible:

the property of gaseousness is caused by and reducible to rapid molecular motions;

liquidity is caused by and reducible to slower molecular motions;

solidity is caused by and reducible to molecular cohesion;

consciousness is caused by but not reducible to neuronic interactions;

visible colours are caused by but not reducible to interaction between electromagnetic radiation, eyes and neurons.

Consciousness is caused but qualitatively distinct.