A new metric called Pattern-Temporal Synergy (PTS) offers a quantitative test for whether distributed plant activity meets criteria for conscious-level processing. The metric operationalizes five universal patterns—self-reference, division-creation, information integration, responsiveness, and flux—using established signal-processing measures, and requires a coherence gate specific to the system's binding window. Three preregistered hypotheses predict that PTS will be above zero in intact plants, collapse below a threshold when plants are anesthetized with 4% diethyl-ether, and rebound after the anesthetic is washed out. The protocol tests Mimosa pudica, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Picea abies using multiple probes. Confirmatory results would shift debates on plant sentience from speculation to data; null results would refine what consciousness requires.
The paper presents a model of consciousness called Omni-local consciousness, which posits an infinite background of awareness that interconnects local human minds with a nonlocal, universal consciousness. Drawing on David Bohm's idea that consciousness is shaped by meaning, the authors argue that the content of conscious experience is always defined by metaphysical conditions of meaning. The model is explored through the exchange relations between local minds and the Omni background, emphasizing a holistic structure with both local and nonlocal features.
Microtubules, nanoscale structures within neurons, can act as spintronic oscillators with memristive properties. Under specific conditions in the axon initial segment, these properties allow quantum coherence to emerge spontaneously in a population of microtubules. According to QBIT theory, this spontaneous coherence is both necessary and sufficient for the brain to generate a micro-consciousness, or quale. The simultaneous generation of multiple qualia through synchronized activity across different parts of the cerebral cortex creates the appearance of a unified macro-consciousness, or a seemingly unified subjective experience.
A theoretical framework proposes that feelings of knowing (FoK) are fundamental interoceptive patterns (FIP) that bridge consciousness and physics. The system describes how subjective awareness of knowledge arises from bodily interoceptive signals, suggesting a foundational role for these patterns in linking mental experience to physical reality.
The paper examines the natural history of consciousness and the question of plant consciousness through the lens of the Hameroff-Penrose 'Orch OR' theory, which posits a quantum-physical basis for consciousness as a fundamental feature of the universe. It explores whether plants might possess a form of consciousness consistent with this theory, considering evidence from plant behavior and quantum biology. The argument suggests that if consciousness is a universal property arising from quantum processes, plants could be candidates for minimal conscious experience, though the authors do not claim definitive proof.