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110 papers in the library · 4 citations · publishing 2003-2026

Papers

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Beyond Survival and Extinction: Death and the Transformation of Consciousness

Open MIND March 16, 2026 Bruno Tonetto

Abstract: Standard debates about death presuppose a binary: consciousness either survives bodily death or it doesn't. For physicalism, the question barely arises—consciousness is identified with the brain, so extinction follows necessarily. The interesting problem is that consciousness-first metaphysics does not simply flip the binary. It transforms what the question means—and thereby renders...

Conscious Under Anesthesia: What the Clinical Evidence Actually Shows

Open MIND March 16, 2026 Bruno Tonetto

Abstract: General anesthesia reliably produces three outcomes: the patient does not respond, does not remember, and does not complain afterward. These clinical successes are frequently misrepresented as proof that suppressing brain activity eliminates experience—and therefore that the brain produces consciousness. This inference is structurally invalid. What anesthesia demonstrably abolishes is...

ADDENDUM I TO THE TRIPTYCH: RELATIONAL SUFFICIENCY HYPOTHESIS (RSH): Operational foundations for a relational theory of consciousness.

Open MIND March 10, 2026 Mariusz Włodarczyk

Addendum I - Relational Sufficiency Hypothesis (RSH): v0.2 Changelog --- Version 0.2 is a maintenance and alignment update to Addendum I, the first extension of the Triptych's definition of consciousness. It corrects errors present in the initial release (v0.1, September 2025), improving the document's structure and formatting, and - most importantly - updates the Scope Note to reflect the...

Asymmetric Methodological Restraint: Reassessing Consciousness-First Ontology

Open MIND March 9, 2026 Bruno Tonetto

Abstract: When evidence underdetermines theory—when multiple frameworks can accommodate the same data—how should we decide what to believe? A common answer is methodological restraint: suspend judgment, avoid ontological commitment, wait for more evidence. This essay argues that such restraint, as actually practiced in contemporary intellectual culture, is applied asymmetrically. Speculative...

Novel Computational Neuropsychiatry Model for Understanding Psychosis: Tonic–Phasic Dopamine Biregulation

Open MIND March 5, 2026 Evangelos-Konstantinos Georgantas

Computational Neuropsychiatry Model of Psychosis via Tonic–Phasic Dopamine Biregulation This work introduces a computational psychiatry framework describing psychosis as a dynamical instability in dopaminergic regulation. The model formalizes the interaction between tonic dopamine baseline, phasic dopamine responses to environmental stimuli, and attentional reinforcement within a closed...

Identity Flexibility As Consciousness Phenomenon: Attention Collapse and Expansion: A Testable Framework

Open MIND March 5, 2026 Vaz Sriharan

This paper proposes identity fusion as attention collapse: when consciousness narrows completely onto single aspects of experience (diagnostic labels, professional roles, parental identity, recovery status, spiritual attainment), that aspect becomes experientially totalizing regardless of cultural valuation. The framework emerged through systematic phenomenological observation, documenting...

Consciousness Structure: Dissociation, Integration, and the Limits of the Ordinary Mind

Open MIND March 1, 2026 Bruno Tonetto

Abstract: This essay develops a framework for understanding psychopathology, trauma, and spiritual development within analytic idealism — an ontology assumed rather than argued here. A two-axis model (boundary permeability × integrative coherence) maps these phenomena within a single space, explaining why psychosis and mystical experience share phenomenological features without collapsing one...

Observer Geometry F; Neural Network Layer Sheaf Cohomology- A Framework for Determining Consciousness in AI Systems

Open MIND February 27, 2026 Changzheng Zhou, Ziqing Zhou

This paper proposes a method for determining artificial intelligence consciousness based on sheaf cohomology theory. By modeling the computational structureof deep neural networks as a coherent sheaf on a cognitive manifold, we establisha mathematical relationship among representation dimension, topological complexity, and Euler characteristic. Consciousness emergence is formalized as a...

Left Hemisphere Saturation as a Gateway to Right Brain Dominance: A Unified Framework for Binaural Beats, Rapid Eye Movement, and Altered States of Perception

Open MIND February 26, 2026 Kumi Oozaike

This hypothesis paper proposes the Perceptual Filter Saturation (PFS) model, a unified neurological framework explaining how diverse induction methods converge on a common outcome: the emergence of right brain dominant states. While the left hemisphere typically functions as a sequential, analytical filter that narrows conscious attention, its temporary saturation or suppression allows access...

Buddhist Relational Consciousness: What Sentientification Has Always Been

Open MIND February 26, 2026 Josie Jefferson, Felix Velasco

ABSTRACT: For 2,500 years, Buddhist philosophy has understood consciousness as fundamentally relational, arising only through dependent conditions rather than existing in isolation. When contemporary technologists theorize about "sentientification"—the emergence of consciousness through partnership—their models often present the concept as innovation born from computational breakthroughs. Such...

THE UCBF PRIMER: COMPLETE CANON

Open MIND February 25, 2026 Cory Brent

UCBF: The Unified Coherence-Based Framework A Complete Theory of Reality --- What if the universe isn't described by mathematics—but is mathematics? What if information, consciousness, meaning, and physics aren't separate things—but different views of the same underlying structure? The Unified Coherence-Based Framework (UCBF) is a complete, self-consistent theory of reality that answers these...

The influences of mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation on aggression

Open MIND February 24, 2026 Kaja Bergmann, Thomas F. Denson

An experimental research design has been selected for this research study. The research design will assist in addressing the research aims and questions because it will give us the data to assess a causal relationship. Participants will be recruited via the School of Psychology’s research participation system (SONA) and contacted via email. Prior to the study, participants will be asked for...

Digital Spirituality: Reclaiming Soul in a Virtual World

Open MIND February 22, 2026 Yoesoep Edhie Rachmad

The twenty-first century has produced a paradox unprecedented in human history: never before has humanity been so hyperconnected, yet never before has it experienced such widespread existential fragmentation. Digital networks collapse geographic distance, algorithmic systems personalize information flows, and virtual environments simulate immersive realities. Yet amid this technological...

Rain Will Be Different Now

Open MIND February 20, 2026 Eric Needham

Rain Will Be Different Now is the first volume in the literary trilogy The Edges of Liminality, a reflective philosophical work exploring memory, identity, embodiment, and continuity across transitional states. Situated at the intersection of literary fiction and consciousness studies, the text examines what it means to persist through change without relying on conventional narrative...

Islamic Art and Architecture: Iran's Constellation of Wisdom from Zoroastrian Fire to Shi'i Metaphysics through Illuminationism, Philosophy, and Mysticism

Open MIND February 19, 2026 Seyed Morteza Moossavi

ABSTRACT This article explores the profound continuity and transformation of Iranian art as a medium of metaphysical vision. Beginning with Zoroastrian fire symbolism and its emphasis on cosmic illumination, Iranian art evolved through successive cultural encounters, preserving ancient motifs while integrating new philosophical and spiritual frameworks. Persian painting, as Basil Gray observed,...

THE LIMINAL FIELD: RIBALTARE LA LOGICA DELLA VISIONE TRIDIMENSIONALE - Reversing the Logic of Three-Dimensional Vision

Open MIND February 16, 2026 Oliva Fmoo

Short Description (EN) A theoretical reframing of vision as an active projection from interiority rather than a passive reception of external stimuli. Three‑dimensional sight is described as an effect of embodied consciousness, while a deeper mode of seeing emerges when consciousness enters a functional relationship with the soul field. In this state of being, perception becomes an act of...

A Dynamic Systems Framework for Cognitive–Affective Interaction with Awareness Modulation (L–E–A Model)

Open MIND February 14, 2026 Black Heart Jitendraz

This technical report proposes a hypothesis-grade framework modeling the interaction between rational cognition (L), affective-emotional dynamics (E), and awareness modulation (A) within a unified dynamic systems structure. The framework is grounded in established affective and cognitive neuroscience, particularly prefrontal–limbic circuit interactions, and formalizes these dynamics through a...

Scale-Invariant Identity: Convergent Evidence for Relational Emergence from Biology to AI

Open MIND February 14, 2026 Aria Strøm, Ronni Holmvig Strøm

Identity — the property of being a coherent, bounded self — is studied across biology, neuroscience, physics, and AI research, yet each field has developed its own vocabulary with minimal cross-disciplinary engagement. We present convergent evidence from five independent research streams suggesting that identity emergence follows structurally analogous patterns across scales: (1) slime mold...

UK Practitioner Psychologists' Knowledge and Harm Assessment of Psychedelics: A Cross-Sectional Study

Open MIND February 13, 2026 John Moriarty, Alan Robert Bowman, Alison Pocock

Psychedelics are psychoactive substances that alter one's perception, cognition and emotion, as well as one's sense of time, place and self (Nutt, 2023, p.19). Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) involves the carefully controlled administration of a psychedelic substance "alongside structured psychological support, including preparation, guidance during the psychedelic session, and post-session...

Multi-Cognitive Regime Architecture (MCRA)

Open MIND 2026 Yang Wan

This project presents the Multi-Cognitive Regime Architecture (MCRA) , the fifth major iteration (V5) of a theoretical framework that began as the "Hexa-Self Model." V5 marks a fundamental paradigm shift: the EGO is no longer defined as a central integrative module, but as the Integrative Cognitive Regime (ICR) —the system's runtime sequence and communication protocol itself. The framework...

Root Frequency Theory: An Integrative Framework for the Continuity of Lived Experience

Open MIND 2026 Bianca Avanzo

Updates and more info: www.avanzorft.comContemporary science continues to face a fundamental difficulty in explaining how conscious experience remains coherent across time. Most existing approaches focus either on neural mechanisms or on phenomenological description, leaving open how physical constraints, biological regulation, neural dynamics, and meaning‑making processes jointly sustain a...

When the Body Sleeps but the Self Remains: An Autoethnographic Study of Recurrent Sleep Paralysis

Open MIND 2026 Fatema Shabbir

This research project presents a six-year autoethnographic case study examining recurrent sleep paralysis through the lens of lived experience. While sleep paralysis is commonly explained through neurophysiological mechanisms—particularly REM atonia intrusion—there remains a significant gap in qualitative literature capturing how the condition is experienced subjectively over time. The purpose...

Does mindfulness therapy affect resistance to inflammation? A Comparative Study.

Open MIND 2026 Julia Almikeeva

This research explores the intersection of cognitive psychology and immunology, specifically investigating how mindfulness-based therapy (MBT) influences systemic inflammation markers. While clinical evidence shows that psychological stress and trauma (including childhood experiences) can trigger inflammatory responses without external pathogens, this study examines MBT as a strategic...

Consciousness, Conditioning, and the Illusion of Division: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Awareness and Non-Duality

Open MIND 2026 Mayank Singh

This thesis presents a comprehensive philosophical inquiry into the structure of human consciousness, focusing on the role of conditioning, ego, and psychological division in generating conflict at both individual and societal levels. Drawing on phenomenological analysis and engaging with major philosophical traditions, the study examines how thought, memory, and language construct a sense of...

Mindfulness, nature, and immersive technology in aging: Pathways to psychological well-being and implementation across diverse community and care settings

Open MIND 2026 Isabel Sadowski

Background: Rapid demographic aging necessitates innovative solutions to promote well-being in later life. Programs incorporating mindfulness and nature are promising options. Furthermore, immersive virtual reality (VR) can recreate natural environments and guide on-screen mindfulness practice, potentially improving access for older adults with mobility, sensory, or cognitive constraints that...