Maxwell Harrell

Subconscious Architecture Theory (SAT) proposes consciousness as a result of cognitive mechanisms. Evolved to moderate subconscious neural processing through neurochemical feedback. Genetics provide the biological capacity for this moderation and for experience. What is defined as “consciousness” within SAT is developed and triggered through ongoing absorption and subconscious rationalization of environmental stimuli. SAT is largely falsifiable; predictions, practical experiments, and mechanistic specifications allow the given research agenda to determine accuracy. SAT clarifies why environmental deprivation degrades consciousness, why feral children develop non-human consciousness, why hostile architectures cannot be universal, and how humans achieve within-lifetime adaptation across abstract domains such as mathematics and philosophy. Beyond this, SAT grounds Social Learning Theory mechanistically, unifies all cognitive bias under a single origin, and explains cultural personality variation, among others. Subconscious architecture is primary, appearing prior to consciousness developmentally and evolutionarily, providing integration of memory, thought generation, epigenetic change, and most importantly environmental rationalization. Cognition evolved for environmental interaction, to improve survival outcomes. The nervous system is also directly, physically connected to every sensory organ, the wiring of their direction being indicative of the nervous system’s evolution and development. These sensory organs are primary inputs of the nervous system, this is evidence of cognition’s fundamental processes being built for environmental input processing. Consciousness operates along the subconscience, providing articulation, qualitative experience, reflective awareness, and significance signaling; descriptions of the same phenomena, all are products of valence and architecture. Conscious processing varies following individual perception of environmental stimuli at larger measurable scales, such as language differences shaping cognitive processing or informational exposure informing beliefs, environmental interpretation must trigger variation, with genetics providing the ability. Existing gene-environment models lack mechanistic specification of how the two interact. SAT proposes genetic substrates allow environmental stimuli observation, this stimuli is rationalized according to your existing subjective subconscience. Afterwards, the produced rationale is encoded in engrams, affecting future cascading of subconscious processing and conscious experience. Through this, SAT suggests a specification of epigenetics; the environment doesn't write directly onto the genome, the organism's subjective interpretation of the environment does. Since the origin of thought and decision are derived from environmental stimulus (generating compounding subjectivity of subconscious processing), the scale of variation could entirely produce the perceived end of novelty and creativity. Panksepp’s primary and secondary processing are foundational, but require specification and reframing to include interpretation; subconscious processing triggers consciousness through neurochemical release (emotional valence), a signal determining feedback and preservation to improve adaptive capacity of cognition. Experience feels qualitative because emotional significance is the mechanism through which any subconscious thought becomes conscious.

My name is Maxwell, I'm a young student. I'm personally inspired by Charles Darwin, and consequently, my writings are ambitious; but this ambition does not overshadow falsifiability. I mostly study evolution, neuroscience, philosophy, and technical writing.