Meanings
- uncountableA hypothetical state of matter capable of giving rise to self-awareness and subjectivity.
Max Tegmark, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Physics (he also spoke at the New York event), has proposed that there is a state of matter — like solid, liquid and gas — that he calls perceptronium: atoms arranged so they can process information and give rise to subjectivity.
2016 July 4, George Johnson, “Consciousness: The Mind Messing With the Mind”, in New York Times
Origin
Coined by the physicist Max Tegmark, from perceptron + -ium.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
perceptronium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perceptronium
“perceptronium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perceptronium. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “perceptronium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perceptronium.
Source: perceptronium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.