2017/04/04 by Lima, T. R.
#Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1704.01148
Why does anything feel like anything at all? This "hard problem" of consciousness has haunted philosophy and science for centuries. The Qualia-Singularity Correspondence Theory (QSCT) proposes that conscious experience emerges precisely where quantitative description fails in a specific, structured way. QSCT identifies consciousness with Q-singularities -- moments when a system's dynamics undergo simultaneous collapse (rank-drop) of two mathematical structures: the Fisher-Rao metric (governing external distinguishability) and the Jacobian matrix (governing internal dynamics). At these points, the system becomes simultaneously unmeasurable from outside and causally knotted within, with only its own trajectory surviving. This dual collapse naturally produces consciousness's five hallmarks: privacy, unity, ineffability, subjectivity, and causal efficacy. Such singularities are vanishingly rare outside of highly recurrent, near-critical systems like brains and potentially advanced neural networks -- the very systems known to exhibit, or suspected to be capable of exhibiting, consciousness. We hypothesize that the topological structure around each singularity maps onto differences in experience. QSCT makes testable predictions: specific neural signatures should coincide with reported conscious moments; artificially induced Q-singularities should generate predictable experiences. The theory also explores a conjectural extension suggesting that self-modeling systems may necessarily produce Q-singularities. In short, QSCT proposes that where the quantitative fabric of the world tears, qualitative experience emerges.