Focused‑Ultrasound Consciousness Probe

Use noninvasive transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) to reversibly perturb millimeter‑scale deep brain regions in healthy volunteers and pair those perturbations with blinded behavioral reports, high‑density electrophysiology, and combined fMRI to identify causal nodes and circuits required for conscious experience. Programmed, preregistered perturbation protocols (stimulation, sham, dose–response, cross‑site replication) would produce testable neural‑phenomenal mappings and provide the evidentiary standard for downstream policy claims about consciousness. — If operationalized, it creates a practical pathway to resolve sharp public questions—about AI personhood, end‑of‑life definitions, and animal cognition—by converting previously philosophical debates into auditable empirical protocols.