Article Type: Theory
Accepted for poster presentation at ASSC 29 (2026, Santiago, Chile): “UBCAT: Minimal Causal Agency under Biological Constraints via Recurrent Sensory–Interoceptive Loop Closure."
Highlights
UBCAT defines consciousness as minimal causal agency under biological constraints
Two orthogonal axes: self-referential processing and environment-mediated intervention
Regulation precedes prediction: biological constraints as a universal organizing principle
Developmental Stress Test: proto-conscious stage as UBCAT falsification ground
Framework adjudicates boundary cases across species, development, and pathology
Working Summary
Consciousness is not a reportable mental state but a biologically implementable control regime: it begins when self-referential interoceptive integration closes an environment-mediated causal loop under homeostatic and metabolic constraints; this criterion dissolves the category errors in infant consciousness by separating environment-modulated regulation from environment-mediated agency.