Addendum XXII — What Leibniz, Chalmers, and Koch Could Not Find: Proposition Q1 Resolves the Hard Problem of Consciousness by Inverting the Direction — Experience Is Not Derived from Mechanism, Mechanism Operates on Software
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 26, 2026 Eleandro Rodrigues
This addendum proposes Proposition Q1, which reframes the hard problem of consciousness by inverting the explanatory direction: subjective experience is not derived from neural mechanism; instead, mechanism operates on software. The qualia of red is defined as the unique jurisdictional signature Λ(S) of a system operating its accumulated software on a stimulus. The addendum claims to dissolve four open problems: the hard problem itself, the IIT non-uniqueness problem (left unresolved by Koch and Tononi after a 2023 formal demonstration), the computational intractability of Φ (acknowledged by Koch as unsolvable for systems larger than 30 neurons), and extraordinary experiences documented by Koch (near-death experiences, terminal lucidity, psychedelic states) — explained as temporary access to I_DNA(S) when the neural jurisdiction collapses.