Accepted conference talk / withdrawn
Measuring the Unmeasurable: How Umwelt Information Content Drives the Emergence of Consciousness
A theory of consciousness asking how organisms evaluate a situation when they must act before they can fully process it.
The Science of Consciousness, San Diego · 14 October 2026
Abstract
I propose that consciousness may emerge because organisms must evaluate what is beneficial or harmful before they can fully process a situation. The pressure depends on what an organism needs to process in its environment, given its sensory biology. I describe this demand as Umwelt information content.
Central problem
What happens when an organism must evaluate a threat or opportunity before it can fully process the available information? I examine whether this temporal constraint creates an evolutionary need for valence: the felt quality of a situation as beneficial or harmful.
Evidence status
The talk was accepted for The Science of Consciousness 2026 in San Diego. I withdrew it because I could not attend. It was not presented. The published preprint is listed separately as the primary research output.