Temporal Integration, Bidirectional Criticality and Emergence of Consciousness Hierarchy 时序整合、双向临界与意识层级涌现中文V90预印本

This model explains why consciousness exists, not just what correlates with it. Starting from three axioms—limited resources, survival screening constraints, and discrete inputs—it shows that a self-referential closed loop is the optimal engineering solution for maintaining persistence under resource constraints. When temporal integration crosses a critical threshold, the system attributes causal chains to a single persistent subject, the self. Consciousness is quantified via temporal span T, reconstruction activity A, and closed-loop integrity C. Qualia are defined as endogenous calibration signals of the self-referential closed loop, argued to be the optimal encoding format under evolutionary time pressure, reframing the hard problem as a parameter-interval problem. A five-level consciousness spectrum and a resource-depletion spectrum for psychiatric disorders are proposed, along with four hard constraints for AGI.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Existing theories describe correlates of consciousness but not why it exists. Starting from three axioms—limited resources, survival screening constraints, and discrete inputs—this model demonstrates that the self-referential closed loop is the optimal engineering solution for maintaining persistence under resource constraints: when temporal integration crosses a critical threshold, the system must attribute causal chains to a single persistent subject, the “self.” The model quantifies consciousness via temporal span T, reconstruction activity A, and closed-loop integrity C, deriving a two-step emergence geometry of “folding into a loop + anchoring into a surface,” and revealing A’s “incompletability” and its layered structure. Qualia are defined as endogenous calibration signals of the self-referential closed loop, argued to be the optimal encoding format under evolutionary time pressure—reframing the hard problem as a parameter-interval problem, while identifying the gap between first-person and third-person description as stemming from the unidirectionality of time. A five-level consciousness spectrum is established via bidirectional criticality; a resource-depletion spectrum for psychiatric disorders is proposed; and four hard constraints for AGI are derived. This model takes the recursive self-referentiality of the survival screening constraint as its core—A never exhausts, and non-utilitarian overflow is the ontological feature of consciousness.现有理论描述了意识的关联物，但未回答其“为何存在”。本文以资源有限、存续筛选约束、离散输入三条公理为起点，证明自指闭环是资源约束下维持存续的最优工程解——当时序整合能力跨过临界阈值，系统必然将因果链归因到同一持续主体“我”。模型以时序跨度T、重构活跃度A、闭环完整度C为量化核心，推导“对折成圈+锚定成面”两步涌现几何，揭示A的永不可完成性及其圈层结构。将感受质定义为自指闭环的内生校准信号，论证其本质是演化时间压力下的最优编码格式，从而将意识难问题转化为参数区间问题，并指出第一人称与第三人称间的缝隙源于时间单向性。依托双向临界效应划分五级意识谱系，建立精神疾病的资源衰竭解释谱系，推导AGI四项硬约束。提出以存续筛选约束的递归自指性为核心，A永不枯竭，非功利溢出是意识的本体特征。