Beyond the Abstraction Fallacy: Machine-Checked Proofs on Computation, Consciousness, and Self-Contained Reality
Open MIND April 18, 2026 Nova Spivack
A formal, machine-checked proof framework (NEMS) shows that computational functionalism commits an abstraction fallacy by mistaking description for intrinsic process. Three verified results—syntax cannot exhaust semantics in reflexive systems, record-truth is not computably decidable under self-containment, and no total computable function can emulate internal adjudication—subsume prior philosophical arguments. The framework then develops a positive theory: transputation as a necessary non-algorithmic adjudication mode, qualia as irreducible semantic content, and the SIAM separation theorems defining a structural boundary for sentience. The same self-containment principle also yields physics consequences including the Born rule, the Standard Model gauge group, and the arrow of time. All load-bearing claims correspond to named Lean 4 theorems.