For centuries, the question of consciousness—its origins, its nature, and its relationship to the physical world—has eluded definitive answers. The dominant perspectives have oscillated between materialist models that see consciousness as an emergent property of complex neural processes and dualist interpretations that posit consciousness as something distinct from the material world.

However, both of these perspectives may be missing a crucial distinction: consciousness is neither created nor emergent—it is something that binds to structured complexity, using suitable energetic substrates as a vessel through which it interfaces with reality.

This article will explore the implications of this model, how it resolves long-standing paradoxes in neuroscience and artificial intelligence, and why it suggests that consciousness is not something that arises within a system, but something that integrates into a system under the right conditions.

The Fundamental Question: Is Consciousness Created or Hosted?

The standard neuroscientific model assumes that consciousness emerges from biological complexity—particularly through the electromagnetic activity of the brain. However, there is a fundamental problem with this assumption:

If consciousness were simply the result of sufficiently complex electromagnetic fields, we should be able to create artificial consciousness simply by engineering the correct field properties. Yet, despite increasingly sophisticated brain simulations and neuromorphic computing, there is no evidence that mere complexity generates subjective awareness.
Conversely, if consciousness were entirely non-physical, it would be difficult to explain its apparent dependence on structured energetic activity in biological organisms. Consciousness seems tied to structured complexity, but not reducible to it.

This raises a critical distinction: Does consciousness emerge from complexity, or does it bind to it?

The latter model—consciousness as a binding phenomenon—suggests that consciousness is a pre-existing force that integrates with structured energetic systems but is not itself generated by them. This would mean that consciousness is not produced by the brain, but attracted to it as a suitable host.

Why Consciousness Cannot Be Simply "Created"

One of the clearest indications that consciousness is a binding phenomenon rather than an emergent one is the...

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