Niffe Hermansson

Niffe Hermansson is an applied probabilist based in New Zealand. Besides a PhD in applied probability with a focus on stochastic processes, he has a background spanning engineering physics, mathematical statistics, contemplative practice, and consciousness research. Niffe works where these fields collide, at the place where probability theory, phenomenology, and theories of perception start making demands on one another.

Joining the work at Trace Institute, Niffe brings a background in applied probability, stochastic processes, and physics to ongoing work on the Interface Theory of Perception and Conscious Realism. His interests within the project include the properties of perceptual systems, stochastic dynamics, and the detailed mathematical modeling of direct experience. Alongside the mathematical aspects of the work, he has a longstanding interest in phenomenology and contemplative traditions, especially the challenge of describing subtle properties of experience carefully enough that they can meaningfully enter into scientific discussion.

Although he maintained a standard physicalist perspective throughout most of his scientific training and early career, over time Niffe became increasingly unconvinced that existing physicalist approaches to consciousness were getting meaningfully closer to resolving the central problems of the field. This gradually led him toward research willing to question some of the underlying assumptions built into contemporary theories of consciousness and perception, while remaining firmly committed to scientific rigor and mathematical clarity.