Mass-Energy-Consciousness Equivalence: Informational Quantization and the Emergence of Phenomenological Mass via Coupling to the q-Field

A biophysical theory of consciousness is proposed, grounded in a formal equivalence between mass, energy, and informational organization derived from coupling energy between the brain and a nonlocal phenomenological field, the q-field. Consciousness is conceived as functional matter whose phenomenological mass arises from the difference between total metabolic energy and the entropic cost of organizing the brain's electromagnetic field. Using Landauer's limit, the model introduces discrete thresholds for consciousness emergence and defines phenomenological granularity. This excess energy is reinterpreted as real informational mass, dissolving the Hard Problem into a physico-operational relationship. The model is supported by retrodictive bioenergetic evidence including the Landauer gap, dissociation between basal and content-specific costs, CBF-CMRO2 mismatch, and lactate mobilization as metabolic signatures of coupling energy.

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Abstract

This article proposes a biophysical theory of consciousness based on a formal equivalence between mass, energy, and informational organization derived from the coupling energy between the brain and a nonlocal phenomenological field, the q-field. Consciousness is conceived as a form of functional matter, whose phenomenological mass results from the difference between the total metabolic energy and the entropic cost associated with the organization of the brain’s electromagnetic field. Based on Landauer’s limit, the model introduces a functional quantization of coupling energy, imposing discrete thresholds for the emergence of consciousness and defining phenomenological granularity. Under the relativistic principle formulated by Einstein, this excess energy is reinterpreted as a real and measurable informational mass. The formulation dissolves the Hard Problem of consciousness by transforming it into a physico-operational relationship and proposes experiments with simple organisms for empirical testing. The model returns to Spinozist monism in a thermodynamic key, inaugurating a new paradigm in the physics and neuroscience of the mind. In addition to the prospective experimental design, the model is supported by retrodictive bioenergetic evidence: the Landauer gap, the dissociation between basal and content-specific energetic costs, the CBF-CMRO2 mismatch, and the strategic mobilization of lactate to stabilize informational patterns, thereby providing the metabolic bridge for active inference, are reinterpreted as convergent signatures of coupling energy.