Consciousness

Recursive self-modeling within a pattern of change. Consciousness emerges when an agent's pattern becomes complex enough to represent itself and its relation to the surrounding flux. It is not a substance or a gift but a process: the pattern observing and adjusting its own transformation in real time. Consciousness includes awareness, the qualitative sense of experience, and the capacity to reflect on both, making it the foundation on which free will, responsibility, and consent become possible.