One Consciousness, One Year Later From a Forgotten Hypothesis to a Research Program
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) April 7, 2026 Philip Rey
This monograph formalizes the Theory of Ontological Consciousness (TOC), which proposes that consciousness is not an emergent property of matter but the fundamental ontological field (Φ) within which matter, space, time, and observation become possible. It critiques Integrated Information Theory, Orchestrated Objective Reduction, and Self-Model Theory for committing the 'Thermodynamic Insulation Fallacy'—treating cognitive stability as a free condition rather than a dynamical achievement. The work resolves the Boltzmann Brain paradox by replacing snapshot logic with trajectory logic, presents a mathematical no-go theorem showing that ontologically closed physical theories cannot explain singular facts without a prior field, and offers three preregistered experimental protocols (FST-1, CRY-1, DEC-1) to test TOC's claims. The author argues that consciousness may be the condition under which physics becomes possible.