Spacetime Bounds on Consciousness
Preprints.org July 20, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.20944/preprints202602.1708.v3 (opens in new tab) via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA conscious moment feels unified in time and space, yet signals take time to travel. Many theories bind an experience's parts within a window of duration θ, but leave other questions unanswered. This paper introduces a mathematical tool for answering some of those questions, narrowing down what is conscious under different theories. Two possibilities are presented: Arpeggio, which requires only that each ingredient occur somewhere in-window, and Chord, which is harder to satisfy, requiring ingredients to coexist in time and influence one another. Chord limits the size of conscious unity: for a system of diameter D and signal-speed ceiling v, its exchange architecture sets a factor ε, giving D ≤ εvθ. Primate data constrain θ.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Spacetime Chord peer-to-peer Consciousness Space time Inference |
| Key finding | Proposes that a mathematical tool, Chord, can narrow down what is conscious under different theories by imposing size bounds, time constraints, and two-way exchange requirements, while Arpeggio collapses all theories toward panpsychism. |
Abstract
Is an ant colony conscious? What about a culture, an AI, or a planet? A conscious moment feels unified in time and space, yet signals take time to travel. Many theories bind an experience's parts within a window of duration θ, but leave other questions about time and space unanswered. Here I give a mathematical tool for answering some of those questions, narrowing down what is conscious under different theories. There are two possibilities, Arpeggio and Chord. Arpeggio says consciousness requires only that each ingredient occur somewhere in-window. Chord is harder to satisfy, requiring ingredients coexist in time and influence one another. This limits the size of conscious unity. For a system of diameter D and signal-speed ceiling v, its exchange architecture sets a factor ε, giving D ≤ εvθ. Primate data constrain θ. Chord can augment the likes of Orch-OR, IIT 4.0 and GWT with size bounds, time constraints and two-way exchange requirements. Within Stack Theory, Chord completes the temporal aspect of the Psychophysical Principle of Causality. Given a theory and parameters Chord can, for example, rule out ant colonies or certain AI, or give latency limits for human–AI hybrids. In contrast, under Arpeggio all theories collapse toward panpsychism.