A Theory of Conscious Experience that Makes a Confirmed Novel Prediction about the Etiology of Autism

Three important cohort studies recently proved that early exposure to screen time is associated with autism. No currently accepted theory explains these results, but this paper’s theory does. Chalmer’s still unsolved ‘hard problem’ is that physicochemical processing seems unable to account for the subjective experience of consciousness. I show that Holland and Gell-Mann’s new paradigm of complex adaptive systems suggests a solution. We now know that the almost astronomical functional complexity of life is achieved by the self-organization of a hierarchy of complex adaptive systems. At each level of the hierarchy, a unifying, higher-order, more complex system emerges from the spontaneous interactions of component systems that similarly emerged at the previous level. A transition between adjacent levels is sometimes a startling leap into a radically new category of system: a beehive emerges when individual bees interact; an ecosystem emerges from the interactions of varied organisms; verbal language emerges from the interactions of brains, bodies and the environment. This paper argues that, in parallel with language, psychology also emerges from the interactions of brains, bodies and environment. First elemental components emerge (a thought, emotion, perception or the like) and next, from interactions of these, narrative emerges. A narrative is a complex adaptive system that encompasses subjectivity and is expansive enough to do justice to humanity’s grandeur. Finally conscious experience emerges from the interaction of narratives, a transition for which group therapy provides a transparent model. Following Crick’s ‘astonishing hypothesis,’ the four current classes of neuroscientific theories of consciousness (ToC) identified by Seth and Bayne (2023) all seek to explain consciousness by neural functioning. I argue that my alternative hypothesis is more plausible. I also show that Seth and Bayne’s four classes are each, in part, compatible with my ToC. Autism disturbs experience. My ToC generates a confirmed novel prediction about autism, with implications for public health, that Seth and Bayne’s four classes fail to make. This ToC also shows how intersubjective narrative emerges from early nursing, an issue not addressed by the four neuroscientific classes of ToC. In addition, this ToC makes a prediction about dreams that was recently confirmed by experiment, again a prediction the four classes fail to make. This interdisciplinary paper should be accessible to a layperson but should also interest a physician, psychotherapist, philosopher, scientist, or complexity theorist.