Intrinsic Quality Theory: A Geometric Theory of Phenomenal Experience

Abstract

We propose Intrinsic Quality Theory (IQT), a framework identifying phenomenal quality with the intrinsic physical state of bounded spacetime regions. Unlike functionalist theories, treats quality as an identity, not an emergent property of information processing. We formalize this using Algebraic Quantum Field Theory (AQFT) on causal sets, defining a region’s quality as the pair of local algebra and restricted state, up to physically induced isomorphism. We provide a constraintbased argument that this pair is the unique mathematical object satisfying the requirements any candidate for “intrinsic nature” must meet, and state an explicit Intrinsicness Principle committing to a precise criterion of sameness of quality. A central commitment is the perspectival relativity of quality: intrinsic content is relative to the locus (scale, position, extent) of the region, with no privileged “view from nowhere.” We develop an effective-theory framework that bridges fundamental and neural scales, and show how the geometry of effective causal diamonds generates temporal phenomenology—including the asymmetry between panoramic spatial experience and fleeting temporal experience—without additional postulates. This perspectival relativity yields a non-ad-hoc mechanism for the composition of experience— grounded in correlation structure, not a special binding force—and dissolves the subject-selection debate by separating universal quality from narrative selfhood. The theory’s logical structure separates a core postulate (the identity of quality with the algebra-state pair), bridge hypotheses (conditions for self-threads and narrative operators), and operationalizations (neural metrics approximating bridge quantities). We introduce a narrative operator connecting the formalism to phenomenological report, implemented as a control-theoretic sufficient statistic over self-thread trajectories, and present a worked toy pipeline from state trajectories through coarse-graining to belief states and report variables. We specify three pre-registerable experimental protocols—titrated-propofol anesthesia, withinhemisphere overlapping parcellations with perturbational and intrinsic-synergy arms, and psychedelic temporal phenomenology supported by a mechanistic toy model—with defined metrics, predicted response profiles, and explicit failure conditions at each theoretical layer. The primary axis of divergence from Integrated Information Theory is ’s democracy of diamonds— multiple overlapping regions bearing quality simultaneously—versus IIT’s exclusion postulate. Our overlap protocol combines observational, intrinsic-synergy, and perturbational (single-pulse electrical stimulation) evidence to distinguish genuinely semi-autonomous overlapping loci from modular task responses within a single irreducible complex.