Value saturation: Architecture of subjective necessity.
Bio Systems December 1, 2025 Joseph J Trukovich 1 citation
Consciousness arises when a biological system builds an explicit, recursive model of itself, and that model is saturated with homeostatic significance under perspectival entrapment. This theory, Value Saturation, identifies phenomenal consciousness with this specific organizational architecture. It distinguishes sentience (implicit recursion under survival stakes) from subjective consciousness (explicit, manipulable self-models). Three necessary components are interoceptive binding, homeostatic saturation, and perspectival entrapment. Testable predictions include a developmental shift from sentience at birth to subjective consciousness around ages 3-5, an asymmetry between awareness and manipulation, and clinical dissociations that produce aberrant rather than absent phenomenology. Converging evidence from prediction error processing, homeostatic feelings, and biological computing supports these claims.