Consciousness at the Edge of Explanation
Neuroscience keeps its promises about correlation. The hard question is whether correlation was ever the promise we cared about.
Elena VasquezJune 22, 2026 · 1 min
Senior Editor, Science
Elena writes about physics and the philosophy of measurement. Before turning to essays she spent a decade in observational cosmology, and she still believes the universe rewards patient attention more than clever shortcuts.
Neuroscience keeps its promises about correlation. The hard question is whether correlation was ever the promise we cared about.
The discoveries that reorganize a field rarely arrive as breakthroughs. They accumulate, unglamorously, in labs that refused to hurry.