Integration² (I²) proposes that phenomenal consciousness is identical with the recursive loop formed when an integration process takes its own output as input, producing a recursive loop. This raises an immediate question: what distinguishes genuine integration-bearing re-entry from ordinary recurrent state update? A vanilla recurrent network has reflexive structure (its output influences its...
Integration² (I²) holds that phenomenal consciousness emerges when an integration process takes its own output as input, producing a recursive loop. This identity claim leaves open a question that becomes important the moment one tries to compare conscious systems: if consciousness is the loop, why do conscious systems differ so much from each other? A fish, a chimpanzee, a human, an ant...