"there seems to be extra energy that is counteracting gravity, with the universe expanding more and faster than we can otherwise explain.
If I read correctly, it seems that dark matter and dark energy are at odds regarding expansion and contraction of the universe.
"Thus we can explain fairly well how gravity works but not how and why it exists."
Exactly. Newton and others figured how gravity works according to the size of matter and proximity to other matter. Still, they don't know what it is or why.
"a new trend is trying to develop a theory that mathematically explains consciousness and unifies it with matter. Some physicists are embracing the point that quantum mechanics is so intertwined with consciousness that, in terms of philosophy, modern physics regards matter as pan-psychic."
I know nothing of quantum mechanics but really?, consciousness is intertwined with matter? More math nonsense for a Ph.d thesis or grant. So, pretend no human consciousness tomorrow for whatever reason, does matter cease to exist because of no consciousness?
Such a concept reminds me of Time and how the great minds of today believe it is a 4th dimension. I believe it is a human construct to make sense of our linear experiences in our lives. However, I will concede there might be other dimensions or multi-universes. Who knows? Not us.
That said, I enjoy time movies that show a non-linear movement through time like, Interstellar, Arrival, others. Thank you for your TIME!
(2) The role of consciousness in quantum mechanics is deeply perplexing but well-established. The famous double slit experiment first revealed the paradox by proving that light has the nature of both waves and particles.
When a double slit is set up so that light waves and particles passing through interfere with each other, it raises the problem that somehow light particles (photons) must "know" whether the potentially interfering slit is open or blocked.
Plausibly, as first suggested by Henri Poincare and elaborated by David Boehm, a soliton wave phenomenon could link these particles. Yet efforts to prove that have so far failed and would raise new complications.
More broadly and more deeply contrary to our ordinary sense of things, subatomic particles can be created to be or made entangled, meaning linked with the same charge, spin, or direction of travel. And, being linked, when one such particle is disturbed, the same effect is carried out instantaneously on the other particle it is partnered with -- even across great distances.
When first demonstrated through experiments in the 1920s and 30s that electrons, atoms, and even molecules also showed wave-particle duality, could interfere with each other, and could be made entangled, Einstein and other physicists balked at the implications. Einstein derided it as "spooky action at a distance."
Notably, not only do such entangled particles somehow "know" what they each are doing, but without a human observer, no such effect occurs in a practical sense. It is as if the particles come out to play only when we bother to look.
At a minimum, quantum mechanics postulates a form of indeterminacy to the universe at the quantum scale. To press this point, a metaphor and thought experiment was further described by physicist Erwin Schrodinger. A cat is sealed in a box with a switch set up so that the cat is poisoned depending on whether or not a radioactive decay takes place. It is said that until the box is opened, so far as the larger world is concerned, Schrodinger's cat may be either alive or dead.
Such effects have been thoroughly demonstrated at the quantum level as placing a limit on what we can know. This makes for a fundamental indeterminancy that Einstein rejected by saying that "God does not play dice with the universe." Niels Bohr's rejoinder was, "Albert, stop trying to tell God how to run the Universe."
The philosophical implications about the fundamental role of consciousness in how matter exists and works have provoked several dozen theories. Even after more than eighty years though, we seem no closer to an explanation than at the start. Yet, as with gravity, we are getting better and better at exploiting quantum effects for better materials and devices.
My guess is that when the right kind of quantum devices are developed and become widely available, some people will be able to affect them by conscious thought. I know of at least one well-documented example in which a highly capable psychic was able to affect a shielded seismic device as a demonstration for physicists tasked by the US military with evaluating him. The psychic's ability to do so helped lead to the US remote viewing program.
Plausibly, when people are able to use quantum devices to affect matter though deliberate, spooky mental action at a distance, physicists will be able to work out the rules, limitations, and exceptions.