Situation: Is "conscience observers" the only essential component of the universe and cannot be replaced by inanimate objects? Where is the line that separates animate and inanimate objects? The seat of consciousness, the human brain, is a three-pound lump of quarks and electrons that is subject to all physical laws. It receives its data from sense organs that also consist of matter and whose interaction with the rest of the universe is also governed by physical laws, such as those described by quantum mechanics.