We propose a physical, dynamical model of consciousness by establishing a rigorous analogy with the mesoscale physics of a liquid droplet. The central hypothesis is that a conscious cognitive pattern-a Pattern of Experience (PE)-maintains its unity as a metastable regime sustained by a balance of three fundamental "forces" that mirror droplet mechanics: (1) internal cohesion, mapped to the...
We present a formal theory of qualia in which subjective experience is identified with the internally accessible difference generated by self-referential enrichment in an open metastable system. The framework synthesizes eight prior lines of work into a single architecture: Xi-Theory contributes distinction acts and integrity; Innernet contributes ontological levels and return dynamics;...
This paper develops and expands the Epiphyseal Re-entry Exaptation Hypothesis (EREH), a testable evolutionary proposal concerning the emergence of purely endogenous experience in vertebrates. The central claim is that neural circuitry associated with the ancestral median photoreceptive complex was not simply lost when direct photoreception regressed, but was at least partially exapted into a...