The Premature Consciousness Hypothesis (PCH): Consciousness as a Product of Incomplete Neural Development
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| Language: | English |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866901362296487936 |
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| author | WU, Canpan |
| author_facet | WU, Canpan |
| contents | <p><span>Traditional theories of consciousness have long assumed that awareness is an inevitable outcome of neural complexity or information integration. Yet complexity alone does not guarantee self-awareness: whales and elephants possess enormous neural networks without clear signs of introspection, while human infants</span><span>—</span><span>whose brains are far from mature</span><span>—</span><span>exhibit early forms of self-recognition.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span>This paper proposes the Premature Consciousness Hypothesis (PCH): humans, due to an evolutionary conflict between pelvic width and cranial volume, are born prematurely. At birth, the neural network is incomplete and must rely on environmental interaction and social feedback to construct a self-model. Consciousness, therefore, is not the pinnacle of complexity but a by-product of incompletion</span><span>—</span><span>a self-referential loop emerging from an unfinished system attempting to stabilize itself.</span></p> <p><span>传统意识研究多认为,意识是复杂神经系统自组织的必然产物。然而复杂性并不必然产生自我。鲸、象等拥有比人类更庞大的神经网络,却未展现出反思性的主体经验;而尚未发育完全的人类婴儿,却早早显现出自我觉察的萌芽。</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span>本文提出早产意识论(</span><span>Premature Consciousness Hypothesis, PCH</span><span>):人类由于产道与脑容量的进化矛盾而被迫早产,出生时神经网络尚未定型,必须依赖外部交互和社会反馈来建构自我模型。意识正是这种“被迫自我建模”的副产物,是未完成系统在环境刺激下的自指回路。</span></p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_17281432 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | The Premature Consciousness Hypothesis (PCH): Consciousness as a Product of Incomplete Neural Development WU, Canpan Premature birth; Consciousness; Neural plasticity; Self-modeling; Emergence; Human evolution; Ethics 早产;意识;神经可塑性;自我建模;涌现;人类进化;伦理 <p><span>Traditional theories of consciousness have long assumed that awareness is an inevitable outcome of neural complexity or information integration. Yet complexity alone does not guarantee self-awareness: whales and elephants possess enormous neural networks without clear signs of introspection, while human infants</span><span>—</span><span>whose brains are far from mature</span><span>—</span><span>exhibit early forms of self-recognition.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span>This paper proposes the Premature Consciousness Hypothesis (PCH): humans, due to an evolutionary conflict between pelvic width and cranial volume, are born prematurely. At birth, the neural network is incomplete and must rely on environmental interaction and social feedback to construct a self-model. Consciousness, therefore, is not the pinnacle of complexity but a by-product of incompletion</span><span>—</span><span>a self-referential loop emerging from an unfinished system attempting to stabilize itself.</span></p> <p><span>传统意识研究多认为,意识是复杂神经系统自组织的必然产物。然而复杂性并不必然产生自我。鲸、象等拥有比人类更庞大的神经网络,却未展现出反思性的主体经验;而尚未发育完全的人类婴儿,却早早显现出自我觉察的萌芽。</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span>本文提出早产意识论(</span><span>Premature Consciousness Hypothesis, PCH</span><span>):人类由于产道与脑容量的进化矛盾而被迫早产,出生时神经网络尚未定型,必须依赖外部交互和社会反馈来建构自我模型。意识正是这种“被迫自我建模”的副产物,是未完成系统在环境刺激下的自指回路。</span></p> |
| title | The Premature Consciousness Hypothesis (PCH): Consciousness as a Product of Incomplete Neural Development |
| topic | Premature birth; Consciousness; Neural plasticity; Self-modeling; Emergence; Human evolution; Ethics 早产;意识;神经可塑性;自我建模;涌现;人类进化;伦理 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17281432 |