From Taxonomy to Constraint: An Energetic Formalization of Damasio's Architecture of Selfhood

Abstract

This theoretical manuscript develops an energetic formalization of Antonio Damasio’s architecture of selfhood. Damasio’s distinctions among the proto-self, core self, and autobiographical self are converted from a descriptive taxonomy into a conditional and falsifiable model of functional endurance. For each functional layer, usable free-energy delivery is compared with time-dependent maintenance demand, while cumulative energetic shortfall is evaluated against a finite local buffer. The model predicts failure order from reserve-normalised endurance rather than from psychological complexity, anatomical hierarchy, absolute metabolic consumption, or connectivity alone. Higher-order self-related functions are expected to become unstable first only when independently measured delivery, demand, and reserve indicate a smaller endurance margin under a shared perturbation. Focal lesions, receptor-specific pharmacology, vascular compensation, network redundancy, and disease topography may reverse the predicted sequence without contradicting the model. The formalization distinguishes reversible functional shedding during acute perturbations from progressive repair debt during chronic neurodegeneration and generates preregisterable predictions concerning loss latency, recovery order, perturbation duration, and cross-condition generalisation. It addresses the energetic conditions required to realise self-related functions but does not claim to explain phenomenality or solve the hard problem of consciousness. The model extends the Connectivity Maintenance Cost framework (CMC I): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22018535.