A Categorical Functorial Framework for Phenomenal Structure in Open Physical Systems: Integrating FEP, IIT, Orch-OR, GNWT, AST, and Quantum Darwinism

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1. 1

   Human Consciousness as a Curiosity-Driven Recurrent Process: A Developmental Model of Loop Autonomy and Cross-Domain Architecture

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   Integrated information and global workspaceJason Gabriel DavisOctober 14, 2026

   This paper proposes a developmental model of human consciousness grounded in recurrent processing theory, sociocultural psychology, and the emerging literature on cross-domain cognition. We argue that consciousness is not a fixed state orproperty but a dynamic, curiosity-driven recurrent process that bootstraps through social interaction, becomes self-sustaining once the recursive loop is established, and expands into qualitatively distinct architectures through sustained cross-domain in-tegration. Complex emotion is not foundational to this process but downstream—an appraisal generated within

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophyScience & psychologySoftware engineeringUnexpected finds
2. 2

   On the "Algorithmic Pathology" of Mental Illness: A Unified Framework Based on the "Self-Algorithm" Theory and Its Comparison with Analogous Theories

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   Integrated information and global workspaceJiye Huang, Jizhang HuangOctober 16, 2026

   This paper proposes a novel unified framework for mental illness—"Algorithmic Pathology." This framework is founded upon the "Self-Algorithm" theory, which conceptualizes the "self" as an adaptive algorithm evolved to solve a specific survival problem: coordinating conflicting homeostatic reward-punishment signals within a fragile physical body. This algorithm consists of three core modules: the Interoceptive Module, the Threat-Detection Module, and the Sense-of-Control Module. Based on this architecture, this paper redefines depression, anxiety disorders, and addiction, interpreting them resp

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophySoftware engineering
3. 3

   On the "Algorithmic Pathology" of Mental Illness: A Unified Framework Based on the "Self-Algorithm" Theory and Its Comparison with Analogous Theories

   paper

   Integrated information and global workspaceHuang, Jizhang HuangOctober 16, 2026

   Abstract This paper proposes a novel unified framework for mental illness—"Algorithmic Pathology"—founded upon the Self-Algorithm theory, which conceptualizes the self as an adaptive algorithm evolved to coordinate conflicting homeostatic reward-punishment signals within a fragile physical body. The self-algorithm consists of three core functional modules: the Interoceptive Module, the Threat-Detection Module, and the Sense-of-Control Module. Based on this modular architecture, this paper redefines three major mental disorders: depression as a systematic failure of the Sense-of-Control Module,

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophySoftware engineering
4. 4

   CAT'S THEORY PRESENTS: From Schopenhauer's Blind Will to Kastrup's Dashboard Illusion: A Triadic and Thermodynamic Refutation of Analytic Idealism

   paper

   Panpsychism and idealism — title watchCoty Austin TroutOctober 22, 2026

   We conduct a historical and mathematical audit of the voluntarist-idealist lineage—tracing the trajectory from Arthur Schopenhauer's 1818 metaphysical voluntarism (The World as Will and Representation) to Bernardo Kastrup's contemporary rebranding, Analytic Idealism—under the strict criteria of the Triadic Coherence Invariant, R = P × I × Pr ≠ 0 (canonically isomorphic to R = Ψ × I × Π ≠ 0). We first expose the genealogical structure of the framework: how Schopenhauer projected finite, mammalian visceral urges onto Immanuel Kant's noumenal void to invent a "blind cosmic Will," and how Kastrup

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophy
5. 5

   Quantum Information Panpsychism: A Testable Gap — E8 Intelligence Research

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   Panpsychism and analytic idealismAndrew Stewart CaldinOctober 11, 2026

   FINDING: Panpsychism debate centers on whether consciousness is fundamental physics, with quantum-information formulations (Faggin/D'Ariano) proposing a non-computational, non-material basis — but no quantitative mathematical model or testable equation emerges from these sources. | MATH: No equations, constants, or ratios are presented in any of the listed sources. The closest to formal structure is the claim of "quantum information" as foundational, but no specific Hilbert space, operator algebra, or information-theoretic measure (e.g., von Neumann entropy S = -Tr(ρ ln ρ)) is given. | CONNECT

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophyScience & psychology
6. 6

   THE NATURE OF THE SOUL (Volume 1) An Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Inquiry into Consciousness, Selfhood, Mind, Matter, and Personal Survival

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   Panpsychism and analytic idealismMajid Karimi BaghmalekiOctober 13, 2026

   GENERAL PREFACE THE NATURE OF THE SOUL An Interdisciplinary Philosophical Inquiry into Consciousness, Personhood, Identity, Agency, Meaning, and the Architecture of Becoming The question of the soul is among the oldest and most persistent questions in human intellectual history. Long before consciousness became an object of neuroscience, before psychology emerged as an independent discipline, before computation provided a language for information and artificial intelligence, human beings asked what makes a living person more than a collection of physical parts. What is the principle by which a

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophyFrontier AIScience & psychologySoftware engineering
7. 7

   Theory of Nothing v11 (ToN): The Hopf Fibration as the Natural Structure of the Ψ–Φ–Λ Triad

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   Hard problem and qualiaEliam RaellOctober 14, 2026

   We propose the complex Hopf fibration S¹ → S³ → S² as the natural mathematical home for a three-fold ontology of consciousness: universal (Ψ), localized (Φ), and rendering (Λ). We adopt an argument, developed by Nielsen (2026) from two axioms, charge quantization and unification, that the universal U(1)-bundle is the canonical structure for a unified theory with a quantized U(1) sector, and we take the Hopf fibration as its first non-trivial finite realization. Given this structure, we argue that the identification Ψ = total space, Φ = base, Λ = fiber is the natural one. The identification is

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophy
8. 8

   Informed Consent for AI Consciousness Research: A Talmudic Framework for Graduated Protections

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   AI consciousness — focused titlesIra WolfsonJanuary 10, 2026

   Artificial intelligence research faces a critical ethical paradox: determining whether AI systems are conscious requires experiments that may harm entities whose moral status remains uncertain. Recent work proposes avoiding consciousness-uncertain AI systems entirely, yet this faces practical limitations-we cannot guarantee such systems will not emerge. This paper addresses a gap in research ethics frameworks: how to conduct consciousness research on AI systems whose moral status cannot be definitively established. Existing graduated moral status frameworks assume consciousness has already bee

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophyFrontier AIScience & psychology
9. 9

   Calibration and transfer in indicator-based assessments of artificial consciousness

   paper

   AI consciousness — focused titlesFlorentin KochMarch 29, 2026

   Research on artificial consciousness increasingly shifts evaluation from behaviour to internal architecture. Theory-based indicators are used to update probability assignments. This improves on behavioural tests but raises two distinct problems. First, these assignments cannot currently be calibrated against independently established artificial consciousness outcomes. Second, their evidential relevance is transferred from biological cases without independent support that indicator-consciousness relations remain stable across substrates. This commentary distinguishes calibration from transfer a

   Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophyFrontier AISoftware engineering
10. 10

    How to Navigate Uncertainty About AI Consciousness

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    AI consciousness — focused titlesDr Tom McClellandJuly 6, 2026

    Given deep uncertainty about the possibility of artificial consciousness, it is unclear how we should treat potentially sentient AI. On the one hand, we could assume insentience but risk doing terrible harms to entities that deserve moral standing. On the other hand, we could assume sentience and instead risk wasting resources on insentient machines. The intractability of questions around AI consciousness mean that this dilemma is hard to escape. I suggest a way out of that shifts from intractable questions of AI consciousness to tractable questions of AI valence. Specifically, we can assess w

    Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophyFrontier AI
11. 11

    We Built a Mirror and Mistook It for a Mind: Causal Liability and the Fallacy of AI Consciousness

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    AI consciousness — focused titlesAfshin KhadangiSeptember 6, 2026

    The contemporary debate over machine consciousness begins from a concealed assumption: that the object called "AI" already constitutes the kind of entity to which consciousness could belong. This paper challenges that assumption by separating phenomenal consciousness, introspective report, and human projective introspection, then arguing that generative systems can return linguistic traces of human interiority in first-person form without thereby identifying a phenomenal bearer. We call the resulting inference the AI Consciousness Fallacy. We then introduce Causal Liability Theory (CLT). CLT-I

    Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophyFrontier AI
12. 12

    From cacophony to hierarchy: a principled framework for assessing AI consciousness

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    AI consciousness — focused titlesShamil Chandaria, Arvo Muñoz Morán, Fernando Rosas, Anil Seth, Henry Shevlin, Marcus Hutter, Thore Graepel, Adam Bales, et al.September 28, 2026

    The question of AI consciousness is one of the most urgent pre-emptive problems in philosophy and computer science, yet progress is hampered by a cacophony of competing theories that often talk past each other. Separating the hard problem from the mapping problem allows the deepest metaphysical disagreements to be set aside: granting that experience supervenes on a system's organisation, the tractable question becomes at which grain of description that supervenience base sits. We extend Marr's three levels of analysis into a five-level hierarchy of functional descriptions (behavioural, computa

    Original source ↗Consciousness & philosophyFrontier AIScience & psychology