Synergistic Consciousness Theory: Shared Reality and Distributed Navigation
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 26, 2026 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20394988 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Precondition Relational theory Relational model Observer physics Common ground Process computing Complex system Cognitive science Epistemology Social consciousness Human–computer interaction Social relation |
| Key points | Proposes that consciousness is not an isolated process within individual minds but a dynamically coupled system emerging through relational interaction, shared orientation, and coordinated stabilization across social and internal fields. |
Abstract
Synergistic Consciousness Theory proposes that consciousness is not an isolated process contained within individual minds, but a dynamically coupled system emerging through relational interaction, shared orientation, and coordinated stabilization across social and internal fields. The paper reframes loneliness, grief, trust, institutions, contemplative observer states, and pathological self-organization as expressions of the same underlying synergistic architecture. Integrating systems theory, phenomenology, attachment theory, enactivism, and distributed cognition, SCT presents consciousness as coordinated navigation across coupled relational systems rather than isolated computation. For the cosmological companion paper: The Cosmological Ground of Synergy extends Synergistic Consciousness Theory into relational cosmology. The paper argues that differentiation is the precondition for relationality, relationality for synergy, and synergy for navigable complexity and consciousness. From cosmological emergence to biological coordination and conscious awareness, the same structural sequence — differentiation, relation, synergy, stabilization — appears across scales without implying panpsychism or teleology. Consciousness is reframed as coordinated multiplicity stabilized across relational fields.