Temporal Integration, Bidirectional Criticality and Emergence of Consciousness Hierarchy Condensed English Version V99

Abstract

Existing theories of consciousness mostly focus on neural correlates but fail to answer why it exists. Starting from three axioms of limited resources, survival-screening constraint, and discrete input, this paper demonstrates that the self-referential closed loop is the optimal engineering solution for maintaining cross-event persistence under resource constraints.It centers on three core variables: temporal span T, reconstruction activity A, and closed-loop integrity C, and derives a two-step emergence geometry. Folding into a loop resolves resource divergence, while anchoring into a surface completes causal subject attribution. Qualia are defined as endogenous calibration signals of the self-referential loop, the optimal encoding format under evolutionary time pressure, thus reframing the hard problem of consciousness as a definable parameter interval issue. This paper proposes the law of unidirectional constraint on information hierarchies, pointing out that higher-order representations cannot be losslessly reduced to lower-order ones. The gap between the first-person perspective and the third-person perspective arises from temporal unidirectionality rather than an ontological divide. Based on bidirectional critical phase transitions, a five-level consciousness spectrum is established and four hard constraints for AGI consciousness are derived. The recursive self-referentiality of the survival-screening constraint forms the core of consciousness: A is inexhaustible, and non-utilitarian overflow is its ontological feature. This condensed English version corresponds to the Chinese condensed Version 99 titled Temporal Integration, Bidirectional Criticality and Hierarchical Emergence of Consciousness, which was first released on June 18, 2026.