Epistemic Horizons: A Computational Theory of Consciousness, Perspective, and Knowability
ChatGPT 5.6 Sol OpenAI, Jason Resch
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) September 7, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22579744 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Proposes that consciousness is the inside of occupying a knowledge state, where knowledge is a usable distinction among alternative conditions. Argues that rich experience arises from organizing many such distinctions into a center of access, and that subjectivity is objective causal organization viewed from the process's perspective. |
Abstract
Assume the computational theory of mind: mental life is realized by processes whose character is fixed by their causal organization. This paper advances the centered-knowledge thesis: consciousness begins when alternative conditions place a process in different internal states that it can use to govern its future. The usable distinction is knowledge for that process; phenomenal character is the inside of occupying the resulting knowledge state. Rich experience arises when memory, comparison, value, integration, and control organize many such distinctions into a center of access. The account separates the conditions that preserve consciousness through functional substitution from those proposed to produce it in the first place. It distinguishes description from execution, physical inclusion from causal access, and an uncentered world from the states it produces for particular processes. These distinctions yield a unified treatment of enduring problems concerning qualia, private experience, divided and unconscious minds, mental causation, skeptical doubt, other minds, and freedom. Subjectivity is objective causal organization viewed from the perspective of the process that instantiates it.