Criteria, Parameters, Assumptions

The criteria for a good scientific theory, including one of cognition, are PLITH.

It should be parsimonious, logical, informative, testable, and hard to vary

As far as I know, the theory I now call “epistolution,” discussed in Paper 3 but which is taken for granted in all my posts on this platform, is the only one available that meets these five criteria. An upcoming post will provide a scholarly paper that explains this theory in ten pages with citations

Some of the parameters that a solution to the question must meet are the following: A complex organism is a device which…

Tends to replicate its templates

Must be largely self-protective, but is capable of self-harm

Must hallucinate as it perceives

Must form habits

Must be vulnerable to placebo effect

Cannot tickle itself

Must have motivations

Must require a circadian rhythm

Must require sleep and dreaming

Must benefit from lateralization

Must have trouble communicating (understands more than it can report)

No magic allowed

Some of the assumptions I have discarded in arriving at my solution:

Input leads through logical processing to output

Homeostasis stops at the level of the organism

There is no functional boundary for homeostatic processes above the level of the organism

Action of parts drives the whole

Learning is a continuous process

All knowledge is information, adapted

Free will is a logical instrument

Objective reality is contacted through perception