Manifold Traversability Dissociates Conscious Level from Neural Entropy: An Empirical Evaluation of Noetic Diffusion Theory

Langell, Robin

doi:10.5281/zenodo.18543707

Published February 9, 2026 | Version v.0.3

Working paper Open

Manifold Traversability Dissociates Conscious Level from Neural Entropy: An Empirical Evaluation of Noetic Diffusion Theory

Langell, Robin (Researcher)¹

1. Langell Konsult AB

This paper evaluates whether conscious level is better captured by dynamical traversability than by neural entropy, explicitly framed against Churchland’s criteria for a mature neurocomputational theory. Using EEG and fMRI across anesthesia, sleep, epilepsy, and task engagement, we show that manifold geometry and second-order dynamics dissociate conscious level from entropy-like measures. Meta-Noetic Phase Space and Jacobian-based indices track loss and recovery of consciousness where entropy fails, supporting a dynamical–geometric account aligned with biological and computational constraints.

Other (English)

Changelog:

v.0.1 First version

v.0.2 Acknowledgement update

v.0.3 Added Reachability Cones

Notes (English)

Note on collaborative authorship

This manuscript was developed through structured collaboration between the human author (Robin Langell) and several large language models. GPT‑5.2 (OpenAI) contributed to the mathematical formalisation, cross‑modal integration and initial drafting of several sections, while Claude 4.5 Opus (Anthropic) and Gemini 3 Pro (Google) assisted with technical editing, literature synthesis and internal “peer review” of analyses and interpretations. All study design, data processing, statistical analysis and final interpretative decisions were performed and approved by the human author, who bears full responsibility for the content and any remaining errors.

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