The Gödelian Cut: A Critical Taxonomy of Physical Theories of Consciousness and the Price of Their Alternatives
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 9, 2026 Alfredo de Joannon
A single structural error recurs across leading physical theories of consciousness: they conflate phenomenal consciousness (pure presence), experience (interactive processing), and access-consciousness (functional availability), treating a measured structural quantity as if it were the exhibition of presence itself. This diagnostic framework examines Integrated Information Theory, Perceptronium, informational panpsychism, and Orchestrated Objective Reduction, showing each reintroduces phenomenal presence as an object within the system it studies. Rather than proposing a new metaphysics, the paper maps available exits from the Hard Problem—illusionism, standard physicalism, constitutive panpsychism/cosmopsychism, and a figure–ground inversion—pricing each honestly, including the author's own favored wager with its cost named.