The Screaming Lawn Problem is a satirical-but-technically-grounded probe into the failure modes of consciousness proxy criteria when applied outside their intended substrate. Using plant volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, electrical signalling, and mycorrhizal networks as case studies, the paper demonstrates that standard consciousness proxies — signal integration, adaptive response,...
This working paper argues that the contemporary consciousness debate is constrained by a prior methodological problem: the measurement instruments used to assess consciousness may be miscalibrated to the phenomenon they claim to detect. Rather than treating consciousness as an isolatable object or property, the paper proposes that it is more plausibly understood as a dynamically maintained...