Temporal Integration, Bidirectional Criticality and Emergence of Consciousness Hierarchy Condensed English Version V91

Consciousness arises as an optimal engineering solution for persistence under resource constraints. Starting from three axioms—limited resources, survival-screening constraints, and discrete inputs—the paper demonstrates that a self-referential closed loop is the system that best ensures persistence. 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 endogenous calibration signals of this loop, representing an optimal encoding format under evolutionary time pressure. The model reframes the hard problem as a parameter-interval problem and identifies the first-person/third-person gap as arising from temporal unidirectionality. A five-level consciousness spectrum is established through bidirectional criticality, and four hard constraints for AGI consciousness are derived.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Existing theories describe correlates of consciousness without explaining why it arises. This paper starts from three axioms—limited resources, survival-screening constraints, and discrete inputs—to demonstrate that the self-referential closed loop is the optimal engineering solution for persistence under resource constraints. When temporal integration crosses a critical threshold, the system necessarily attributes 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 plus anchoring into a surface," and revealing A's incompletability and layered structure driven by permanently unfulfilled constraints. Qualia are defined as endogenous calibration signals of the self-referential loop, representing the optimal encoding format under evolutionary time pressure—reframing the hard problem as a parameter-interval problem and identifying the first-person/third-person gap as arising from temporal unidirectionality. A five-level consciousness spectrum is established through bidirectional criticality; a resource-depletion spectrum for psychiatric disorders is proposed; and four hard constraints for AGI consciousness are derived. Recursive self-referentiality of the persistence screening constraint forms the core of consciousness: A never exhausts, and non-utilitarian overflow is its ontological feature. This condensed English version corresponds to the Chinese condensed Version 91 titled Temporal Integration, Bidirectional Criticality and Hierarchical Emergence of Consciousness, which was first released on June 18, 2026.