Timothy Speed (2025)
The Orch-OR framework identifies conscious moments with objective reductions (OR) of quantum superpositions in microtubules. Even if its physical assumptions were fully confirmed, a central question remains unresolved: why should an OR event yield phenomenal experience rather than merely selecting a physical state. This paper proposes a minimal dynamical condition that completes Orch-OR without modifying its collapse mechanism. The core claim is that OR is necessary but not sufficient for consciousness.
Conscious experience arises only when OR events are embedded in a bounded recurrent dynamic between actuality and an ontological possibility-space. Formally, non-conscious OR corresponds to direct state updates, whereas conscious OR requires post-reduction re-access to a set of possible successor states prior to stabilization. This recurrence condition is non-representational, non-cognitive, and physically implementable as a metastability window in microtubular dynamics.
This paper functions as an interface text within a larger operator-based research corpus. Core concepts are applied here, not re-derived. The underlying research operates in a non-linear, rhythmically recursive epistemic mode grounded in an autistic form of structural perception; the present text provides an interface translation for academic contexts.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17942531
Keywords: Orch-OR, objective reduction, consciousness, quantum biology, recurrence, microtubules, metastability, active inference
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