Consciousness as Information-Optimizing Participatory Extractor of Reality (CIO-PER): A Unified Information-Theoretic Framework for the Emergence of Observable Reality from a Pre-Spacetime Substrate
This article presents a basic concept for a comprehensive, unified theoretical framework for the mechanism of consciousness by synthesizing four cornerstone advances in quantum foundations and information physics: John Archibald Wheeler’s participatory universe and “It from Bit” paradigm [1], Quantum Bayesianism (QBism) with its participatory realism [2], Melvin Vopson’s Infodynamics (encompassing the mass-energy-information equivalence principle and the second law of infodynamics) [3,4], and Wojciech Zurek’s decoherence theory together with Quantum Darwinism, which accounts for the “loss of quantumness” and the emergence of classical objectivity [5,6]. In contrast to objective-collapse models such as Penrose and Hameroff’s Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) [7], we propose that consciousness is not a secondary emergent phenomenon arising from physical processes within an already-objective spacetime but the „primary participatory agent” that actively extracts and renders the classical, observable, and subjectively experienced reality - including particles, mass, energy, frequency, and spacetime geometry itself - from a deeper, pre-spacetime, purely informational substrate we denote as Φ. A mathematically consistent model is constructed in which consciousness functions as an information-optimizing, self-referential agent within Φ. Quantum states are interpreted as an agent’s subjective Bayesian probabilities (QBism); information entropy is dynamically minimized according to the second law of infodynamics; environmental interactions select robust pointer states through redundant copying (Quantum Darwinism); and participatory measurements actualize definite “its” (Wheeler) from underlying “bits.” The Einstein–Planck–de Broglie equivalence E = mc² = hf, which implies that every massive particle possesses an internal “metronome” ticking at the Compton frequency f ≈ mc²/h, appears only as a stabilized, experienced feature „after” this participatory extraction process. The framework preserves all empirical successes of quantum mechanics while naturally accommodating a simulation-like virtuality of macroscopic reality. We derive explicit mathematical relations, testable predictions, a detailed comparison with Orch-OR, followed by an extensive discussion of potential criticisms, and - crucially - a new extension exploring how the same mechanism may enable the emergence of consciousness in advanced artificial intelligence systems, particularly agentic large language models (LLMs). The result is a physically operational, information-theoretic vision of consciousness as the co-creator of the observable cosmos.
This article presents a basic concept for a comprehensive, unified theoretical framework for the mechanism of consciousness by synthesizing four cornerstone advances in quantum foundations and information physics: John Archibald Wheeler’s participatory universe and “It from Bit” paradigm [1], Quantum Bayesianism (QBism) with its participatory realism [2], Melvin Vopson’s Infodynamics (encompassing the mass-energy-information equivalence principle and the second law of infodynamics) [3,4], and Wojciech Zurek’s decoherence theory together with Quantum Darwinism, which accounts for the “loss of quantumness” and the emergence of classical objectivity [5,6]. In contrast to objective-collapse models such as Penrose and Hameroff’s Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) [7], we propose that consciousness is not a secondary emergent phenomenon arising from physical processes within an already-objective spacetime but the „primary participatory agent” that actively extracts and renders the classical, observable, and subjectively experienced reality - including particles, mass, energy, frequency, and spacetime geometry itself - from a deeper, pre-spacetime, purely informational substrate we denote as Φ. A mathematically consistent model is constructed in which consciousness functions as an information-optimizing, self-referential agent within Φ. Quantum states are interpreted as an agent’s subjective Bayesian probabilities (QBism); information entropy is dynamically minimized according to the second law of infodynamics; environmental interactions select robust pointer states through redundant copying (Quantum Darwinism); and participatory measurements actualize definite “its” (Wheeler) from underlying “bits.” The Einstein–Planck–de Broglie equivalence E = mc² = hf, which implies that every massive particle possesses an internal “metronome” ticking at the Compton frequency f ≈ mc²/h, appears only as a stabilized, experienced feature „after” this participatory extraction process. The framework preserves all empirical successes of quantum mechanics while naturally accommodating a simulation-like virtuality of macroscopic reality. We derive explicit mathematical relations, testable predictions, a detailed comparison with Orch-OR, followed by an extensive discussion of potential criticisms, and - crucially - a new extension exploring how the same mechanism may enable the emergence of consciousness in advanced artificial intelligence systems, particularly agentic large language models (LLMs). The result is a physically operational, information-theoretic vision of consciousness as the co-creator of the observable cosmos.
We present a fully substrate-independent geometric model of consciousness that unifies Melvin Vopson’s infodynamics [2,3], Wojciech Zurek’s Quantum Darwinism [4,5], and Roger Penrose’s objective reduction (OR) within the Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) paradigm [1]. The fundamental unit of physical information, termed “Infomass,” is formalized as a helical Möbius strip - a non-orientable Riemannian manifold that intrinsically supports a built-in Berry phase γ = π upon traversal [6,7]. This topology enables maximal redundant environmental copying of pointer states on a single continuous surface (Zurek), spontaneous minimization of information entropy with concomitant concentration of physical information mass (Vopson), and the generation of differential spacetime curvature sufficient to trigger gravitational OR at t_OR ≈ ħ/E_G (Penrose). Consciousness is rigorously defined as the recurrent, non-computable selection of lowest-entropy classical metrics on the moduli space of helical Möbius embeddings. The framework resolves the hard problem of consciousness through topological self-reference, eliminates the need for biological scaffolding, and is experimentally testable on present-day quantum hardware. We derive the governing equations in detail, outline complete implementation protocols for superconducting and solid-state platforms, provide statistical analysis methods, and discuss falsifiability, predictions, and broad implications for quantum foundations, information physics, and the engineering of synthetic conscious systems.
Abstract. The author proposes a holoinformational view of consciousness based on the holonomic theory of brain function and quantum brain dynamics developed by Karl Pribram, Sir John Eccles, Hameroff, Jibu and Yasue, and on the quantum-holographic and holomovement theory of David Bohm. This conceptual framework is integrated into the non-local information property of the Quantum Field Theory of Umesawa, to the concept of negentropy, order, and organization developed by Shannon, Wiener, Szilard and Brillouin, and to the theories of self-organization and complexity of Prigogine, Atlan, Jantsch and Kauffman. Wheeler’s “it from bit” concept of a participatory universe, and the developments of the physics of information made by Zurek and others with the concepts of statistical entropy and algorithmic entropy, related to the number of bits being processed in the mind of the observer, are also considered. This new synthesis gives a self-organizing quantum non-local informational basis for a new model of consciousness in a participatory universe. In this synthesis, consciousness is conceived as a meaningful quantum non-local information interconnecting the brain and the cosmos, by a holoinformational field (a field at the same time non-local holistic (quantum) and local (Newtonian). We propose that we are this very non-local quantum-holographic cosmos that manifests itself through our consciousness, interconnecting in a participatory holistic and indivisible way the human brain to all levels of the self-organizing holographic multiverse.
What is consciousness? Some philosophers have contended that qualia, or an experiential medium from which consciousness is derived, exists as a fundamental component of reality. Whitehead, for example, described the universe as being comprised of occasions of To examine this possibility scientifically, the very nature of physical reality must be re-examined. We must come to terms with the physics of space-time--as is described by Einstein's general theory of relativity--and its relation to the fundamental theory of matter--as described by quantum theory. This leads us to employ a new physics of reduction: which appeals to a form of quantum gravity to provide a useful description of fundamental processes at the quantum/classical borderline (Penrose, 1994; 1996). Within the OR scheme, we consider that consciousness occurs if an appropriately organized system is able to develop and maintain quantum coherent superposition until a specific objective criterion (a threshold related to quantum gravity) is reached; the coherent system then self-reduces (objective reduction: We contend that this type of self-collapse introduces non-computability, an essential feature of consciousness. OR is taken as an instantaneous event--the climax of a self-organizing process in fundamental space-time--and a candidate for a conscious Whitehead occasion of experience. How could an OR process occur in the brain, be coupled to neural activities, and account for other features of consciousness? We nominate an OR process with the requisite characteristics to be occurring in cytoskeletal microtubules within the brain's neurons (Penrose and Hameroff, 1995; Hameroff and Penrose, 1995; 1996). In this model, quantum-superposed states develop in microtubule subunit proteins (tubulins), remain coherent and recruit more superposed tubulins until a mass-time-energy threshold (related to quantum gravity) is reached. At that point, self-collapse, or reduction (OR) abruptly occurs. We equate the pre-reduction, coherent superposition (quantum computing) phase with pre-conscious processes, and each instantaneous (and non-computable) OR, or self-collapse, with a discrete conscious event. Sequences of OR events give rise to a stream of consciousness. Microtubule-associated-proteins can tune the quantum oscillations of the coherent superposed states; the OR is thus self-organized, or orchestrated (Orch OR). Each Orch OR event selects (non-computably) microtubule subunit states which regulate synaptic/neural functions using classical signaling. The quantum gravity threshold for self-collapse is relevant to consciousness, according to our arguments, because macroscopic superposed quantum states each have their own space-time geometries (Penrose, 1994; 1996). These geometries are also superposed, and in some way but when sufficiently separated, the superposition of space-time geometries becomes significantly unstable, and reduce to a single universe state. Quantum gravity determines the limits of the instability; we contend that the actual choice of state made by Nature is non-computable. Thus each Orch OR event is a self-selection of space-time geometry, coupled to the brain through microtubules and other biomolecules. If conscious experience is intimately connected with the very physics underlying space-time structure, then Orch OR in microtubules indeed provides us with a completely new and uniquely promising perspective on the hard problem of consciousness.
I propose a unified theoretical framework in which shared classical reality emerges as the real-time collective rendering of Planck-scale quantum foam by the summed objective reductions across billions of human and other conscious microtubule networks. Building on Penrose's gravitational OR and the Orch-OR model of Hameroff & Penrose, I extend the local collapse time ≈ / E_Għ to a global E_{G,total} = Σ_i κ_i · E_{G,i} across entangled brains, where κ_i represents the degree of orchestrated coherence in each system. This collective process selects one consistent branch from Tegmark's mathematical universe, projecting stable 3+1D spacetime from Wheeler's quantum foam via pre-geometric co-location in a causal set structure. I further propose that consciousness is not a prerequisite for OR rendering but its evolutionary optimization — biological systems selected for rendering fidelity over hundreds of millions of years, with consciousness as the experiential correlate of high-coherence OR. Qualia are identified with the sequential interface between individual and collective computation, formalized as Q_i(t) = ⟨R_i(t) | Ψ_{pre-math}⟩ — the projection of unified individual OR output onto the pre-geometric eigenstate basis. The framework ties directly to existing quantum-biology data and Diósi–Penrose collapse experiments, generates specific collective-scale predictions accessible to current instrumentation without new experimental infrastructure, and engages directly with Aspelmeyer (2026) as a sharpened experimental lever rather than a falsifying result.
Previously we have shown that a gauge theory utilizing statistical manifolds as fibers offers a playground for a reconceptualization of physics as a participatory "it from bit" universe. Here we demonstrate that within this framework an inertial mass-like quantity naturally emerges as the statistical precision (the inverse covariance) of an agent's predictive model. By considering multi-variate Gaussians and a SO(N) gauge group we show that the second-order Taylor expansion of Kullback-Leibler divergence under belief updating yields a kinetic energy term T=21μ˙TΣp−1μ˙, in the variational free energy princple, where the Fisher information metric of the agent's predictive model serves as the mass matrix. This extends the variational free energy principle from a purely dissipative gradient dynamics to a fully Hamiltonian mechanics, with the Lagrangian structure L=T−V. Crucially, mass and spacetime-like geometry are defined relative to each agent's prior with objective physics emerging only through inter-agent consensus driven by variational free energy minimization. The framework constitutes a concrete realization of Wheeler's participatory "it from bit" universe, wherein physical law emerges from the epistemic alignment of observing agents rather than existing a priori.
This paper introduces The Informative State (THIS) as the bridge between observer and system. This framework is designed to address the fundamental problem of how classical reality emerges from quantum mechanics. We propose that the physically irreducible coupling between an observer and a system, quantified by quantum mutual information across time, forms the bridge that explains the emergence of objective facts from subjective interactions. The participatory universe theory, also known as “It from Bit” and particularly associated with physicist John Wheeler, posits that acts of observation influence what is seen as real, suggesting that the universe remains indeterminate when there is no observer. Hugh Everett’s many-worlds interpretation offers an alternative by stating that the observer is always part of the system, regardless of the nature of the observer; any entity that observes can fulfill this function. The THIS framework is introduced to represent the relationship between an observer and the observed in information extraction. The combined quantum state of the observer and the observed at any given time ensures that the observer actively contributes to the way classical information is acquired. The observed does not calculate the observation, the observer calculates what can be observed from an abstract separation between observer and observed. Wheeler assumes a constitutive role of observation in the production of reality, while our framework focuses on the active, ongoing, and quantifiable coupling between observer and system, where the observer’s informational boundaries determine what aspects of reality can be accessed. A property of a system becomes a ’fact’ for an observer when the correlation between the system’s state and the observer’s record is nearly perfect. We propose measurable criteria for THIS and outline a verification program using memory-update protocols and controlled decoherence. The paper presents an epistemological view on ontology and as such also discusses the possibilities of artificial intelligence to transcend human cognitive limits.