Here, in one room, we have a huge collection of chess players. I nipped in a snapped them quickly, not wishing to disturb them. Being a philosophical physicalist I am intrigued by the so called “hard problem”, whereby the challenge for both philosophy and science is to explain, in physical terms, what consciousness is and how it manifests itself out of thoughts and sensory input. It may be that it is never understood, although at least it seems that we, or at least our scientists, are making some progress as we slowly but surely learn more about the physical qualities of the brain. Either way, we can be sure that where there are sentient humans, or other sentient creatures, there will be thoughts and consciousness and something physical must be happening, even if we can’t yet see it, measure it or understand it. As I looked at this room, my own consciousness provided me with a sense akin to a great wave of thought-power, as you might call it, as hundreds of minds dug deep to conceive of the next move.