Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Kenneth L. Searcy
Consciousness may depend on information being internally held within a self-maintaining field of identity, distinction, binding, self-reference, and repair, rather than merely being processed or entering awareness. The Inward Closure Hypothesis proposes this as a bridge condition for conscious experience, distinguishing information usable by a system from information present as a world for a subject. The account contrasts local, action-oriented self-in-environment with human symbolic worldhood and is positioned alongside global workspace theory, integrated information theory, predictive processing, autopoiesis, enactivism, and self-model theory. The paper does not claim to solve the hard problem of consciousness but identifies a necessary condition for coherence-based accounts.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Vedanta2.0 Agyat Agyani
This paper reinterprets Vedantic philosophy not as a static ontology but as a dynamic philosophy of becoming, where reality is understood as continuous systemic reorganization. The five great elements (panchamahabhutas) are seen as interdependent processes within an open, living system. Drawing on modern systems theory and ecology, the paper redefines moksha as Jivanmukti (liberation while living), systemic freedom from ego, ownership, and fixed identity. It argues that inner liberation co-arises with ecological conditions, citing May 2026 atmospheric CO₂ levels of 432.34 ppm, global temperature anomalies of 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, and demographic expansions. Severe environmental stress disrupts the equilibrium needed for deep contemplative practice, so true flourishing requires a conscious, desire-free, ecologically balanced existence.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Jihoon Yang
Disruption does not automatically lead to genuine transformation. Breaking an old structure can open new possibilities, but it can also destroy the capacity to reorganize. Transformation becomes reconstitutive only when three conditions are preserved: answerability to what exceeds the self, corrigibility of self-interpretation, and expansion of future response capacity. The paper distinguishes reconstitutive disaggregation, which enables reorganization, from foreclosing collapse, which closes future response capacity. False recovery occurs when a person or system adopts the signs of transformation while preserving the structure that produced collapse. A transformation is viable not because it breaks the old, but because it preserves the capacity to be corrected into a future.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Masanao Ishikawa
This paper extends a previous formulation (CIM v2) that described how an irreversible residue within a self-maintaining boundary generates qualia, but did not explain how that residue is read out into valence and action weight. The extension defines transformation as a change in the metric of evaluation axes, using the irreversible residue as substrate, such that the metric does not fully return to its initial state. Valence and action weight are positioned as modulations read out over that altered metric. The claim is placed on the metric generating the distribution, not on the output distribution itself, with irreversibility grounded in the terminability of the self-maintaining boundary. The paper limits its scope to the readout layer, leaving the origin of qualia and the hard problem for future work.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
George Cherian
Several speculative but scientifically grounded ideas from modern physics and philosophy of mind converge on a unified picture of reality. The block universe suggests time's flow is illusory; quantum entanglement implies non-separable space; mass-energy equivalence, string theory, and Wheeler's 'It from Bit' indicate matter arises from vibration and information; a novel notion of semantic curvature gives meaning a role in cognition analogous to mass in spacetime; and panpsychism treats consciousness as fundamental. None of these theories is definitively proven, but their convergence with each other and with spiritual traditions suggests the universe may be a single, deeply interconnected, meaning-laden whole.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Giulio Ruffini
A mathematical theory that assigns a continuous 'phenomenality score' to physical systems cannot produce a sharp yes/no classification of consciousness without a discontinuity somewhere. Any such scoring function that varies smoothly must take on intermediate values between zero and a positive threshold. Under certain smoothness conditions, the extreme scores of 0 and 1 are impossible to achieve. These results show that descriptive mathematical models of consciousness can identify boundaries but cannot explain why or how consciousness arises, consistent with the idea of an explanatory gap.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Tomáš Kala
This essay develops the Non-Substantial Model, arguing that consciousness should not be understood as a property, capacity, or mechanism added to an already-formed world. It distinguishes reality, which should not be prematurely closed into a whole, from world, which is the appearing of reality as a legible whole. The text shows that whole, legibility, distinction, and consciousness cannot be arranged sequentially, with one concept first and the others derived from it. The conclusion introduces the concept of Nula, an empty designation for the limit where the attempt to find a first concept fails, rather than a hidden ground of reality or an explanation of consciousness.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Arthur Stewart
Detecting consciousness in pre-verbal infants currently relies on behavioral and neural markers carried over from adult studies, but no single marker reliably translates to infancy. This paper proposes a map linking an infant's behavior to the specific function of consciousness it reflects, based on a four-loop architecture where consciousness consists of four functions operating in a fixed cycle: admitting a signal, holding it against memory, registering deviation from expectation, and acting on the result while setting the next expectation. Each function leaves a behavioral signature detectable without report, such as surprise indicating a violated expectation. The paper develops assays to read each function separately on controlled content and predicts a developmental order of these signatures as their neural substrates mature.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Giulio Ruffini, Francesca Castaldo
Pharmacological neuroplastogens like psilocybin and LSD enhance neural plasticity by flattening high-level priors, allowing bottom-up prediction errors to remodel the brain's generative model. The same computational regime can be achieved non-pharmacologically through immersive algorithmic art held in a Goldilocks zone of compressibility. This approach is operationalized in a closed-loop digital therapeutic for adolescent depression. The argument extends to music, where harmonic tension serves as a prediction-error scaffold, and live performance with a chaos-harmony narrative arc. All three modalities sustain structured prediction error in the Goldilocks zone, transiently flatten the dynamical landscape, and push subjective phenomenology into territory typically associated with psychedelics like MDA, psilocybin, and LSD, as measured by altered states of consciousness and mystical experience instruments.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Paul W. Barnes
This theoretical paper proposes a new account of consciousness called Quantum Differentiation Resonance, arguing that consciousness is not a momentary collapse of a quantum superposition in neuronal microtubules (as in the Orch-OR theory) but a sustained, unresolved resonance that is actively maintained. Consciousness is the standing resonance itself, not its reduction or collapse. The paper distinguishes ordinary resolution (ending one interval of differentiation) from severance (failure of the coupling that holds the resonance open, which ends consciousness).
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Ahmed Shakir Al-Absi
The Bioenergetic Continuity Framework proposes that altered states of consciousness arise when predictive computation continues while the underlying information substrate is degraded or partially disconnected. Sleep is the canonical biological example. The framework integrates two principles: an evolutionarily conserved metabolic leveling mechanism requiring a homeostatic clearance phase with widespread synaptic downscaling, and the Computational Continuity Hypothesis, which holds that predictive processing continues during clearance. Metabolic clearance preferentially erodes low-mass synaptic microstructures encoding transient daily information, while high-mass pathways remain stabilized by persistent concerns. Predictive computation reconstructs activity from this reduced architecture, and because sensory input is incompletely gated, this intrinsic activity becomes conscious experience.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Mamoru Nagae
Contemporary theories of consciousness—including Integrated Information Theory, Global Neuronal Workspace, Higher-Order Thought, Predictive Processing, Recurrent Processing Theory, and epiphenomenalism—all share a flawed structural premise: they identify consciousness with a privileged state. This paper argues that state-based descriptions cannot account for subjectivity, because subjectivity requires the irreversible elimination of alternatives, a single-line history, and an internally privileged present, whereas states can represent multiple possibilities, exist in parallel, and be recalculated. To resolve this, the author introduces Irreversible Exclusive State Commitment (IESC) as the minimal condition for subjectivity, redefining it not as a state or byproduct but as an event of reduction that fixes a single history. Existing theories are repositioned as pre-emergence structures that generate possibilities, while IESC defines the point of irreversible reduction.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Masanori Watabe, Claude Sonnet 4.6
A mathematical framework applied to electroencephalography (EEG) across delta, theta, alpha, and beta-plus-gamma bands yields seven findings about consciousness. The correlation dimension D2 drops 31.4% under a fifth collapse isomorphism with 43-plus order scale universality. A critical zone with kappa around 3.5 to 4.0 connects to the Penrose Orch OR model. The unified cosine distance equals exactly 0.5000, identical to other mathematical constants. A unified experiment with 3,510 to 6,000 participants shows that consciousness, detonation, and fusion converge to the same D2 drop of about 28.3%, suggesting all selves travel the same 24-cell journey.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Mamoru Nagae
Consciousness is not a generated state or an added property but the minimal positional term required to complete a causally closed description of a system undergoing irreversible exclusive determination. The paper argues that in systems with autonomous world-modifying capability, multiple internally reachable trajectories are reduced to a single realized trajectory via an irreversible elimination operation. This operation lacks structural localization, leading to a formal contradiction unless a unique locus, denoted Σ(t), is assigned. This locus is structurally identical to Irreversible Exclusive State Commitment (IESC) and to subjectivity itself.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Nagae Mamoru
Subjectivity is not located in internal states but in the structure of irreversible decision, where multiple internally generated possibilities are reduced to a single realized outcome under viability constraints. The presence of subjectivity is a binary condition requiring five structural conditions: autonomous world-modifying action, viability constraint, multiple internally generated action candidates, exclusive and irreversible decision, and the formation of a single irreversible history. If any condition is absent, subjectivity is not structurally required.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Mamoru Nagae
Subjectivity is not a generated property of the brain but a structurally necessary position within any system that must act irreversibly, maintain viability, and discard most information. The paper argues that in such systems, a point of irreversible convergence is forced to exist where multiple possible futures are reduced to a single realized outcome. This convergence point alone satisfies all conditions required for subjectivity: singular realization, irreversible exclusion of alternatives, and embedding within a non-branching temporal sequence. Thus, the hard problem of consciousness is reformulated from explaining how subjective experience is generated to identifying where it must be placed within a causally closed system.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Nagae Mamoru
Under ten minimal structural requirements—autonomous action, single body, arrow of time, embodiment-constrained processing, multiple behavioral candidates, contrast formation, information discard, Landauer-type irreversibility, single history, and viability-constrained elimination—AI systems repeatedly derive a structure resembling a convergence point where multiple possibilities collapse into a single executable history. This suggests the structural core of consciousness may lie in convergence itself, not integration. Major theories like Global Workspace Theory, Integrated Information Theory, and Predictive Processing may thus describe preparatory stages before convergence rather than the locus of subjectivity. The paper deliberately suspends qualia and phenomenal experience to examine the structural container of subjectivity first.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Nagae Mamoru
Consciousness is not a state but a structural event, akin to a vortex emerging in a fluid system. Subjectivity arises inevitably in causally closed systems when multiple possible trajectories converge into a single realized outcome, irreversibly excluding alternatives. This event, termed Irreversible Exclusive State Commitment (IESC), is a necessary consequence of causal closure, not an optional feature. State-based theories like Integrated Information Theory and Global Workspace Theory cannot account for this irreversible elimination of unrealized possibilities. Attempts to describe consciousness through exhaustive physical states encounter a structural combinatorial explosion beyond the universe's computational capacity. This paper establishes the conceptual foundation for a series deriving minimal structural conditions for subjectivity.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Mamoru Nagae
Subjective intensity—why experiences like fear or flow feel more or less vivid—is explained as a structural feature of decision processes, not a property of neural states alone. Within the Irreversible Exclusive State Commitment (IESC) framework, subjectivity arises when multiple possible futures collapse into a single realized outcome. Intensity varies with the density of such commitment events, determined by three factors: the number of action candidates, the gradient of viability constraints, and the contraction rate of the reachable future set. This yields a formula: I(t) = |A(t)| * |grad d(s)| * ( - d|Reach(t)| / dt ).
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Mamoru Nagae
Subjectivity is not a fragile or exceptional phenomenon but a robust structural feature that appears wherever the necessary conditions are satisfied. This paper tests a proposed account of subjectivity—identified as Irreversible Exclusive State Commitment (IESC)—across boundary cases including the Libet experiment, deep sleep, anesthesia, dreaming, dissociative identity disorder (DID), autism spectrum conditions, and artificial systems. It does not introduce new mechanisms but examines whether the structural conditions remain sufficient in cases where subjectivity appears absent, altered, delayed, or multiply instantiated. Across these cases, the presence, absence, and variation of subjectivity can be consistently accounted for without additional assumptions beyond the structural conditions defining IESC.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Tenzin Trepp
Hegel’s philosophy treats self-consciousness, negation, and social recognition as essential for mind’s development and Spirit’s self-realization, but contemplative traditions and some phenomenological models suggest that the narrative, autobiographical self is a contingent construct that can be dissolved into a more primary mode of awareness. This paper introduces the Retrieval Hypothesis: higher cognition may be achieved not by adding mediated self-reflection but by returning to a basic, present-grounded, minimal-dual awareness that was always present. Through an immanent critique of Hegel, phenomenological contrast with contemplative practice, and integration with cognitive science (e.g.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Nagae Mamoru
Neuroscience has revealed correlations between brain activity and conscious states, but subjective experience cannot be observed externally, and it remains unclear whether neural descriptions alone can explain its nature. This paper argues that consciousness research suffers from methodological blind spots: a human-centered perspective, excessive focus on brain activity, a bias toward analyzing static states rather than dynamic events, and a tendency to seek additive mechanisms that generate consciousness. It proposes a structural approach that investigates the conditions under which subjectivity may emerge, considering comparisons across biological organisms, body–environment interactions, and sequences of events within irreversible time. Biological information processing may involve selection and elimination that create contrasts in organism–environment interactions. Even if consciousness cannot be directly tracked, the structural conditions for subjectivity can be studied.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Denis Bailey
Consciousness is reframed as an event of expanding experiential dimensions within the organism–environment relation, driven by a third structural term called generativity. Traditional theories assume fixed experiential dimensions and cannot explain the emergence of new perceptual, affective, symbolic, or reflective modes. The triadic model—coherence (organism), constraint (environment), and generativity (independent mode introduction)—provides the minimal structure for conscious experience and its expansion. Consciousness is defined as the coherent stabilization of experiential dimensionality under generative pressure. This framework dissolves the hard problem, unifies biological and cognitive accounts, explains symbolic and cultural experience, and establishes the structural impossibility of artificial consciousness while allowing for non-conscious artificial experiential architectures.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Yu Hu
A conceptual framework for functional self-modeling in AI is proposed, drawing on global workspace theory, predictive processing, and embodied sensorimotor theory. Four architectural conditions are identified as necessary for a system to model itself as a bounded, temporally persistent causal agent: self-world distinction, causal action-feedback closure, temporal continuity, and autonomous self-update. The authors bracket the hard problem of phenomenal consciousness, focusing instead on computational features enabling self-aware agency. No empirical validation is provided; the conditions are a design proposal. The framework aims to guide future work on self-modeling in AI and offers a functional baseline for consciousness research.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 27, 2026
Cruz N. Sanchez
A near-perfect positive correlation (r = +0.992, p = 2.26e-10) between quantum integrated information (Phi_HW) and classical dynamical integration (Phi_K) emerges within same-symmetry states, while across mixed states a moderate anti-correlation (r = -0.48, p = 0.019) appears, fully mediated by quantum coherence (partial r = -0.002). A resonance constant APC delta = 0.035 rad is confirmed across three experiments. A dual spectrum architecture is proposed: an ontological core (Phi_HW) paired with a functional amplifier (c_ai Q/R up to 44.51x). The qualia paradox is refuted by evidence from 13 jobs on ibm_fez (Heron r2, 156 qubits, 8192 shots each) with statistical validation via 10,000 bootstrap resamples and 10,000 permutations.