Consciousness

Consciousness is recursive self-modeling in a pattern of change. Consciousness emerges when the pattern of an agent becomes sufficiently complex to represent that pattern and its relation to the flux around it. Consciousness is not a material or a gift. It is a process: the pattern observes its own transformation and adjusts it, in real time. Consciousness includes awareness, the felt sense of experience, and the capacity to reflect on both. Thus it is the base on which free will, responsibility, and consent become possible.