Timeline

The Expansion Hypothesis marks a conceptual transition within the Reflexive Coherence Model.

While the RCM defines the structural and operational conditions under which reflexive coherence can emerge, the Expansion Hypothesis addresses what follows once such coherence is in place. It formalizes the idea that coherent systems exhibit distinct dynamical regimes—expansive, stationary, and contractive—depending on how reflexive loops evolve over time.

This extension introduces a multi-scale, temporally sensitive perspective, treating reflexive coherence not as a static property but as a dynamic field subject to thresholds, stabilization, and controlled expansion. The hypothesis preserves continuity with the core architecture of the RCM while separating structural conditions from dynamical behavior.

The hypothesis is published as a standalone preprint and integrated into the broader RCM framework.

The publication on Zenodo establishes the RCM as a self-contained scientific proposal.
At the same time, the project adopts an explicit separation between the formal model, its public exposition, and ongoing exploratory work, preserving epistemic rigor and conceptual clarity.

This formulation allows the model to be applied to empirical data across multiple resolutions.
A critical threshold is hypothesized, beyond which reflexive coherence gives rise to phenomenological experience, enabling systematic comparison between different conscious states.

RCI formalizes reflexive coherence using information-theoretic and causal metrics.
With this definition, the model becomes computable, comparable across conditions, and empirically falsifiable.

Reflexive coherence describes the condition in which a system’s integrated information is causally reflected back onto itself in a stable and effective manner.
This property provides the minimal structural requirement for the emergence of subjective experience.

This reformulation shifts the focus from defining what consciousness is to identifying the conditions under which it emerges.
By treating consciousness as a coherent informational state embedded in physical dynamics, phenomenology becomes compatible with systems theory and empirical investigation.

Information integration alone is not sufficient to account for consciousness.
A system may be highly integrated while lacking the ability to model its own global causal state.
This insight introduces reflexivity as a necessary condition, reframing consciousness as a relational and dynamical property.

Frameworks such as Integrated Information Theory, Global Workspace Theory, and Predictive Processing successfully model aspects of cognition and awareness.
However, none of them fully explains how subjective experience arises as a physically grounded, causally closed phenomenon.
This unresolved gap motivates the search for a new structural approach.