Consciousness, the Full Stack: Four-Layer Architecture = Language on Mind on STFC Part 1 of 4
Karl Sipfle
PsyArXiv October 25, 2022 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/u84fz (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that consciousness research lacks a standard, useful structure and that prevalent large theories are deeply flawed or overly non-committal. Proposes a four-layer reference architecture and the "Sentonic Theory of Fundamental Consciousness" (STFC) as principles of operation for the bottom half of the architecture in real brains, aiming to bridge physical mechanisms and value/consciousness. |
Abstract
Consciousness research is a field beset with mystery and many conflicting theories. Each set of hypotheses and arguments in the present situationnecessitate first identifying, conveying, and digesting entire platforms of presumptions and definitions from which to reason and work forward.There has emerged no standard, useful structure for work and discourse; prevalent large theories are deeply flawed and/or overly non-committal,typically from first assumptions. What is more reliable is limited in scope and reach.While much work has been done by many this has not led to an understanding of fundamental consciousness. We know a good deal about how thenetworks of neurons in our heads calculate and process information, shedding light on how we think. This does not tell us how we feel. A mind isthinking plus, especially, feeling.Therefore, we define a reference Architecture for consciousness to assist further research and discussion and we explain the motivations for itsform. We present a set of postulates and basic hypotheses. We explain metatheory of consciousness, implied by and supported by the postulates,hypotheses, and architecture. We further start to dig into a theory within the various individual layers of the architecture. Throughout we makea limited set of commitments to what is probably true yet often unrecognized, with brief explanation in the text and references to the longerarguments, while leaving open for variation aspects that are not realistically constrainable at this time.In the course of this article we consider basic mechanisms, the missing explanatory glue from the physical world to value and consciousness. Wethus lay out the Sentonic Theory of Fundamental Consciousness (STFC) as principles of operation of the bottom half of the Architecture in real brains. (PDF) Consciousness, the Full Stack: Four-Layer Architecture=Language on Mind on STFC: Part 1 of 4. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364708467_Consciousness_the_Full_Stack_Four-Layer_ArchitectureLanguage_on_Mind_on_STFC_Part_1_of_4 [accessed Oct 25 2022].