The Origin, Evolution, and Future of Consciousness

This paper proposes and substantiates "Canxian Monism," an original ontological framework. We posit that the fundamental distinction between consciousness and matter is not a substantive dualism, but rather a divergence between the strict "locality" of the physical world and the "non-locality" characteristic of the conscious realm. The theory's core concept, "Cognitive Canxian," is defined as a cognitive subject's creative, non-linear editing of physical processes within the four-dimensional spacetime continuum. The products of this process—the discretized "objects" and "events" of our experience—are inter-subjectively transferable, thereby constructing the very fabric of a shared reality. Based on this, intelligence can be redefined as the agency to discover, process, and utilize Cognitive Canxians for "Causal Chain Re-engineering." This process liberates living organisms from the infinite complexity of physical causality, enabling a shift towards a more efficient and teleological psychological causality. This paper traces the biological origin of the "Self" as the primordial Cognitive Canxian and, through two core postulates—the "Law of Cognitive Inertia" and the "Meta-Impulsion Thesis"—explains how organisms achieve an ontological leap from locality to non-locality, thereby intrinsically generating metaphysical impulses for construction, unification, and aesthetics. Compared to Kant's transcendental categories, the concept of "Cognitive Canxian" demonstrates a greater degree of generativity and dynamism, enabling it to transcend species (such as between humans and artificial intelligence) and facilitate planetary migration.