The Missing Ingredient: A Response to Superpsychism
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 1, 2026 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21107978 via OpenAlex
Summary
This paper responds to a theory that consciousness is fundamental and non-spatial. It argues that the original theory is correct in some ways but lacks key details. The response proposes additions: a single fundamental basis, a specific mechanism for how consciousness arises, a unified view of time and gravity, a structural explanation for how large-scale consciousness emerges, and a way for the theory to be self-supporting without relying on simulation ideas. These additions aim to complete, not replace, the original theory.
Study at a glance
| Design | preprint |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The Unified Axioconscious Field Theory supplies five elements missing from Schneider and Bailey's Superpsychism: single fundamentality, a specified mechanism for phenomenal consciousness, unification of time and gravity, a structural mechanism for macro-consciousness emergence, and self-grounding without simulation hypotheses. |
Abstract
Preprint. Submitted to the Journal of Consciousness Studies on April 20, 2026 as a response to the Superpsychism special issue; under review. In "Superpsychism" (Journal of Consciousness Studies 33(1-2), 13-39, https://doi.org/10.53765/20512201.33.1.013), Susan Schneider and Mark Bailey propose that consciousness is fundamental, non-spatio-temporal, and continuous with the prototemporal entangled structure from which spacetime emerges. This response argues that Schneider and Bailey correctly identify several structural features of a defensible ontology of consciousness but stop short at five specific junctures. At each juncture, their framework requires something it does not provide. The Unified Axioconscious Field Theory (UAFT) supplies the missing elements: single fundamentality, a specified mechanism for phenomenal consciousness rather than an unmodified appeal to resonance, the unification of time and gravity as codifferential expressions (gravitytime), a structural mechanism for the emergence of macro-consciousness (the pinch point), and self-grounding without recourse to simulation hypotheses. The bridges developed here do not replace Superpsychism. They complete it.