Cø as N*: A Minimal Network-Dynamics Model of Phenomenal Consciousness

This paper develops an expanded version of the N* model of phenomenal consciousness. The target is minimal phenomenal presence, denoted Cø: the condition in which there is something it is like for a system to be in a state, without requiring self-reflection, overt report, introspective judgment, or metacognitive access. The central hypothesis is a deliberately risky biconditional: under an independently assessed viability condition V, Cø obtains if and only if a system instantiates a minimal network-dynamics bundle, formally represented as N* = N1 ∧ N2 ∧ N3. The three conjuncts are integration/synergy (N1), broadcast availability (N2), and recurrent stability (N3). The paper supplies the formal notation, plain-language annotations, a conceptual transition guide for readers arriving from rival frameworks, measurement policy, surrogate-conflict rules, edge-case predictions, a landscape map across major consciousness theories, and objection-handling needed to make the model accessible without weakening its empirical commitments. The proposal is substrate-independent only in a constrained sense: a non-biological or alternative biological substrate qualifies only if it realizes the relevant causal dynamics, at the relevant temporal grain, within pre-registered tolerance bands. The model is not presented as a completed solution to the hard problem or as a full theory of phenomenal quality. It is proposed as a candidate theory of phenomenal presence and as a candidate C-test framework whose value lies in being clear enough to test, constrained enough to fail, and modular enough to be revised by adversarial evidence.