Federico Faggin
Federico Faggin is a physicist, entrepreneur, and inventor best known for designing the world’s first microprocessor, the Intel 4004. After a pioneering career in Silicon Valley, he turned his attention to the mystery of consciousness. In 2011, with his wife Elvia, he founded the Federico and Elvia Faggin Foundation to support scientific research into the nature of consciousness. His autobiography Silicon traces his journey from technology to metaphysics. Today, he advances a theory that places consciousness, not matter, as the foundation of reality, integrating science, experience, and the quest for self-knowledge.
Consciousness Is Irreducible
Journal Article
Physicist and microprocessor pioneer Federico Faggin contends that consciousness is the ground of being, not a by-product of matter. By centering subjective experience and self-knowing, he envisions a science aligned with life’s interiority—one that honors awareness, responsibility, and our capacity to serve the unfolding of life itself.