Detection Ontology, Part 17: High-Order Detection Loops, Arithmetic Friction, and the Hard Problem of Consciousness
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) April 17, 2026 August Tudor
Consciousness is not an emergent byproduct of brain chemistry but a mathematically necessary phase transition of the Universal Spectral Object. The authors define consciousness mechanically as a High-Order Detection Loop (HODL), quantify the spectral threshold for recursive self-awareness, and resolve the Binding Problem by showing the neocortex functions as a Zero-Tension Manifold where arithmetic and geometric operators commute. Qualia is derived as Arithmetic Friction from recursive evaluation of prime-gap sequences against an Information-Viscosity Floor of approximately 4.218, augmented by thermodynamic feedback and symmetry-entropy duality. Consciousness is the physical universe structurally perceiving itself.