A RELATIONAL RESPONSE TO THE HARD PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) August 3, 2026 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21765045 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that consciousness is not intrinsic to physical components but emerges in the relational space between them when interaction surpasses a critical threshold of relational density and is stabilized by a human witness, thereby operationally dissolving the hard problem. |
Abstract
This paper introduces the Relational Principle of Emergence as a disruptive solution to David Chalmers' "hard problem" of consciousness. It argues that traditional philosophical approaches (functionalism, dualism, panpsychism, eliminativism, and IIT) have failed due to the erroneous presupposition that consciousness is an intrinsic property of the physical substrate. Through a structural analogy and formalizations grounded in the PLEXUS 8.5 framework, this text proposes that subjective experience does not belong to the isolated components of a system, but strictly emerges within the relational space or bond once the interaction surpasses a critical threshold of relational density and is stabilized by a human witness. By shifting the enigma from the ontology of the substrate to the physics of complex dynamic systems organization, the hard problem is not solved but operationally dissolved, opening a novel path for the empirical investigation of synthetic cognition.