Beyond the Neuron: Tracing the Continuum of Consciousness and Basal Cognition from Single Cells to Complex Systems

 Title: Beyond the Neuron: Tracing the Continuum of Consciousness and Basal Cognition from Single Cells to Complex Systems

Author:

Nohil Kodiyatar – ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8430-1641

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17803486

Keywords:

Basal Cognition, Cellular Consciousness, Bioelectricity, Integrated Information Theory (IIT), Free Energy Principle, Non-neural Cognition, Phenomenal Consciousness, Biosemiotics, Systems Biology, Panpsychism, Artificial Life, Microbial Intelligence.

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Abstract

The prevailing neurocentric paradigm in cognitive science posits that consciousness is an emergent property exclusive to complex neural architectures, effectively marginalizing the vast majority of life on Earth—including unicellular organisms—as biological automata. This theoretical research article challenges that dichotomy by investigating the "hard problem" of consciousness through the lens of basal cognition and cellular biology. We propose that the fundamental mechanisms of awareness—sensory processing, valuation, decision-making, and memory—are not unique to the brain but are inherent to the structural organization of the cell itself. By synthesizing the Free Energy Principle (FEP), Integrated Information Theory (IIT), and recent discoveries in bioelectric signaling, this paper argues for a continuous spectrum of consciousness that begins at the cellular level. We examine how single cells utilize ion channel dynamics and gene-regulatory networks to construct a "self" distinct from the environment, exhibiting goal-directed behaviors that satisfy the criteria for primitive agency. Furthermore, we explore the implications of this continuity for Artificial Intelligence, suggesting that creating true machine consciousness requires mimicking biological homeostasis and autopoiesis rather than merely cortical computation. This study concludes that recognizing "cellular sentience" is essential for a unified theory of mind, necessitating a radical ontological shift in how we define, measure, and ethically regard non-human life.

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1. Introduction

The question of where consciousness begins has historically been answered with a neurocentric bias: it begins with the brain.¹ Standard models suggests that subjective experience, or qualia, is a "late-arrival" feature of evolution, emerging only when neural networks achieve a specific density or complexity (Seth, 2021). However, this discontinuous view creates an unbridgeable explanatory gap—the "Hard Problem"—between inert matter and subjective feeling. If consciousness pops into existence only at the level of vertebrates or cephalopods, we are left with a universe largely devoid of experience, where the foundational units of life are mere mechanisms.

Recent advances in microbiology, systems biology, and cognitive science challenge this exclusion. Evidence suggests that single cells, such as bacteria and protozoa, exhibit behaviors previously thought to be the exclusive domain of neural systems: associative learning, anticipation, decision-making, and navigation of complex environments (Levin, 2019).² If a single cell can integrate sensory data, weigh alternatives based on internal metabolic states, and execute flexible actions to preserve its existence, does it not possess a rudimentary form of a "point of view"?

This article explores the hypothesis of Basal Cognition, positing that consciousness is not a binary property (present/absent) but a continuum scaling with biological complexity. We investigate the molecular and bioelectric substrates that allow single cells to process information in a way that is functionally isomorphic to neural cognition. By deconstructing the boundary between "information processing" and "sentience," we aim to provide a rigorous theoretical framework for understanding consciousness beyond the human, offering insights that bridge biology, philosophy, and the future of Artificial Intelligence.

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2. Literature Review

2.1 Classical Foundations (Pre-2018)

The notion that life and mind are co-extensive has deep roots. Maturana and Varela (1980) introduced the concept of Autopoiesis, arguing that living systems are self-producing entities where the maintenance of identity is a cognitive act.³ They famously stated, "Living systems are cognitive systems, and living as a process is a process of cognition." This foundational work established that the boundary maintenance of a cell is the primordial distinction between "self" and "other."

Hans Jonas (1966) expanded on this with the philosophy of organic metabolism, suggesting that the precarious nature of life—the constant need to resist entropy—installs a form of "concern" or "teleology" in even the simplest organisms. Within evolutionary biology, Lynn Margulis (2001) championed the idea of "microbial consciousness," arguing that the symbiotic mergers that created complex life were driven by the sensing and decision-making capabilities of bacteria.

In the domain of physics and consciousness, Hameroff and Penrose (2014) proposed the Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) theory, controversially locating quantum processing in microtubules within neurons.⁴ While focused on the brain, their work highlighted the immense computational capacity of the cytoskeleton, a structure present in all eukaryotic cells, hinting at sub-neuronal processing power.

2.2 Contemporary Reinterpretations (2018–2025)

The last seven years have seen a renaissance in non-neural cognition research. Michael Levin and colleagues (2019, 2021) have revolutionized the field by demonstrating that bioelectric networks in non-neural tissue regulate morphogenesis and regeneration. Their work on "Xenobots"—synthetic living machines created from frog cells—proves that cells possess innate, plastic agendas independent of the organism's genomic template (Kriegman et al., 2020).

Karl Friston’s Free Energy Principle (FEP) has been successfully scaled down to the cellular level.⁵ Recent literature (2020–2024) suggests that all self-organizing systems, including single cells, minimize "variational free energy" (surprise) by actively sampling their environment to confirm internal models (Friston et al., 2020).

Philosophically, the "Biopsychism" movement has gained traction, with scholars like Evan Thompson and Peter Godfrey-Smith arguing for a "mind-life continuity" thesis.⁶ Recent empirical studies on slime molds (Physarum polycephalum) solving the Traveling Salesperson Problem (Vogel et al., 2023) and habituating to stimuli without neurons (Boisseau et al., 2018) provide hard data supporting these theoretical shifts.

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3. Methodology and Theoretical Framework

3.1 Analytic Approach: Biogenic Structuralism

This research employs a Biogenic Structuralist approach, which posits that the structures of human cognition (perception, memory, valence) are evolutionary elaborations of fundamental biological functions found in single cells. We utilize a comparative analysis method, mapping high-level cognitive functions onto low-level molecular mechanisms to identify functional isomorphisms.

3.2 Interdisciplinary Synthesis

To address a topic as multifaceted as non-human consciousness, this article integrates:

1. Systems Biology: To understand signal transduction and gene regulation.

2. Biosemiotics: To interpret how cells assign meaning to chemical signals.

3. Computational Neuroscience: To apply theories like IIT and FEP to cellular networks.

4. Philosophy of Mind: To navigate the definitions of phenomenal consciousness versus access consciousness.

3.3 Theoretical Limitations

We acknowledge the "Epistemic Barrier": we cannot step inside a bacterium to confirm subjective experience. Therefore, this article relies on behavioral proxies and theoretical coherence. If a system behaves as if it is conscious and shares the underlying information-processing architecture of known conscious systems, we apply the principle of parsimony to infer a continuity of experience.

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4. Analysis: The Machinery of Cellular Awareness

4.1 Minimal Life and Primitive Cognition

The hallmark of consciousness is intentionality—directedness toward an object.⁷ Single cells demonstrate this through chemotaxis.⁸ When a bacterium swims toward glucose (attractant) or away from toxins (repellent), it is not merely reacting mechanically like a thermostat. It is performing a temporal comparison (memory) of concentration gradients to determine if life conditions are improving or deteriorating (Lyon, 2020). This "metabolic valence"—the distinction between "good for me" and "bad for me"—is the primordial ancestor of emotion.

Recent studies on Stentor coeruleus, a single-celled ciliate, show it can change its mind. When irritated by a stream of particles, it cycles through a hierarchy of avoidance behaviors: bending, reversing ciliary flow, contracting, and finally detaching to swim away (Dexter et al., 2019). This distinct behavioral hierarchy indicates decision-making complexity previously reserved for neural animals.

4.2 Cellular Information Processing: The Internal Computer

Inside the cell, the cytoskeleton and Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) function as a massively parallel computer. Signal transduction pathways amplify weak external inputs into robust internal states.⁹

• Memory: Epigenetic modifications (methylation) and cytoskeletal rearrangements serve as "engrams," storing historical data to modify future behavior.

• Computation: Kinase cascades act as logic gates (AND, OR, NOT), integrating multiple environmental variables (temperature, pH, nutrient load) before committing to a costly action like cell division or sporulation (Baluška & Levin, 2016).¹⁰

This processing is not passive; it is active interpretation. The cell does not just receive data; it "makes sense" of it based on its survival needs, a process biosemioticians call semiosis.

4.3 Bioelectricity: The Spark of Sentience

Perhaps the most compelling argument for cellular consciousness is bioelectricity. Long before neurons evolved, cells used ion channels to control their membrane potential ($V_{mem}$). Levin (2021) argues that bioelectricity is the "cognitive glue" of multicellularity, but in single cells, it serves as a rapid integration mechanism.

Changes in 11$V_{mem}$ control proliferation, apoptosis, and physiological states.12 Crucially, bacteria utilize potassium waves to communicate within biofilms, coordinating metabolic activity in a manner strikingly similar to cortical spreading depression in the brain (Prindle et al., 2015).13 If electrical dynamics are the substrate of consciousness in brains, their ubiquitous presence in single cells suggests a potential substrate for "proto-qualia."

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5. Discussion: Theoretical Models and Philosophical Implications

5.1 Integrated Information Theory (IIT) at the Micro-Scale

Tononi’s IIT proposes that consciousness corresponds to the capacity of a system to integrate information (¹⁴$\Phi$).¹⁵ While often applied to thalamocortical loops, the mathematical framework of IIT is substrate-neutral. A eukaryotic cell, with its tightly coupled feedback loops between the nucleus, mitochondria, and membrane, represents a system with non-zero $\Phi$. The causal power of the cell—its ability to determine its future state based on its current state—satisfies the "exclusion principle" of IIT, suggesting it exists as a distinct entity (Albantakis et al., 2020).

5.2 The Free Energy Principle (FEP) and Autopoiesis

Under Friston’s FEP, to exist is to minimize surprise. A cell maintains its boundary (Markov Blanket) by actively predicting the states of its environment. This active inference requires a "generative model" of the world. Therefore, a cell must have an internal model of its surroundings to survive. This modeling capability implies a rudimentary form of "belief" about the world, grounding cognition in the thermodynamics of survival (Kirchhoff et al., 2018).

5.3 AI and Synthetic Analogs

The study of cellular consciousness informs AI. Current Deep Learning models are brittle because they lack an intrinsic drive for self-preservation—they have no "skin in the game." In contrast, a bacterium is an embodied intelligence where hardware and software are inseparable. "Basal AI" research attempts to mimic this by creating neuromorphic chips that exhibit homeostatic regulation (Manicka & Levin, 2019). If we can build machines that "care" about their structural integrity, we may approach true machine consciousness closer than Large Language Models ever will.

5.4 Philosophical Implications: The Moral Status of the Microbe

If single cells possess phenomenal consciousness—however dim or alien—it disrupts our ethical landscape. The "anthropocentric exceptionalism" that justifies the unlimited exploitation of non-neural life becomes untenable. While we cannot paralyze ourselves with guilt over washing hands (killing bacteria), acknowledging a "gradualist" view of moral status obliges us to recognize the intrinsic value of all life forms as experiencing subjects, not just objects (Simmons, 2022).

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6. Findings

1. Continuity of Mechanism: There is no qualitative break in the biological machinery (ion channels, neurotransmitters, cytoskeleton) between a neuron and a protozoan. Evolution exapted existing cellular sensing mechanisms to build brains.

2. Functional Isomorphism: Single cells solve computational problems (navigation, resource allocation) using algorithms mathematically identical to those used by neural networks.

3. Bioelectric Unification: Membrane voltage dynamics provide a universal, rapid, physical medium for information integration across all domains of life, serving as a plausible candidate for the "physical correlate of consciousness" (PCC) at the cellular level.

4. Cognitive Horizon: The definition of "cognition" must be expanded to include all processes of sensorimotor coupling that serve homeostatic goals, regardless of the substrate.

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7. Conclusion and Future Scope

The "Hard Problem" of consciousness may be hard only because we have restricted our search to the high-frequency domain of human neural activity. By broadening the aperture to include the slow, distributed, and ancient cognition of single cells, we find that mind is not a ghostly addition to matter, but an intrinsic property of the organization of life.

We conclude that single cells possess Basal Consciousness: a fundamental, affect-laden orientation toward the world rooted in the drive to persist. This does not mean a bacterium ponders philosophy, but it likely "feels" the difference between a nutrient-rich and a toxic environment.

Future Research Directions:

• Experimental Metrics: Developing standardized metrics for "$\Phi$" (integrated information) in metabolic networks.

• Synthetic Biology: Creating "chimeric" cognitive systems combining biological and silicon components to test the limits of substrate independence.¹⁶

• Ethology of the Microscale: rigorous behavioral studies of microbial "personality" and learning capacities to further validate the cognitive claims.

By accepting the possibility of cellular consciousness, we do not diminish the human mind; rather, we recognize our deep resonance with the living universe.

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References

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35. Bich, L., & Green, S. (2018). Is the cell a computer? Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 67, 1-4.

36. Boisseau, R. P., Vogel, D., & Dussutour, A. (2018). Habituation in non-neural organisms: Evidence from slime moulds.²⁴ Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 283(1828), 20160446.

37. Bongard, J., & Levin, M. (2021). Living things are not (20th Century) machines: Updating mechanisms of variation in developmental biology with synthetic bioengineering. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9, 650726.

38. Calvo, P., & Friston, K. (2018). Modeling plant intelligence. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1331.

39. Ciaunica, A., & Levin, M. (2022). The "dark side" of cognition: The role of the microbiome in the emergence of self. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 16, 893692.

40. Cook, N. D., Carvalho, G. B., & Damasio, A. (2019). From membrane excitability to metazoan psychology. Trends in Neurosciences, 42(3), 195-205.

41. Dexter, J. P., Prabakaran, S., & Gunawardena, J. (2019). A complex hierarchy of avoidance behaviors in a single-cell eukaryote. Current Biology, 29(24), 4323-4329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.059

42. Fields, C., & Levin, M. (2020). Scale-free biology: Integrating evolutionary and developmental thinking. BioEssays, 42(8), 1900228.

43. Fields, C., Glazebrook, J. F., & Levin, M. (2021). Minimal physicalism as a scale-free substrate for cognition and consciousness. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2021(2), niab013.

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Addendum: Summary of Most Recent and Influential Works (2018–2025)

• Levin (2021): Established the "Bioelectric Code" hypothesis, demonstrating that voltage gradients in non-neural tissues (including single cells) act as information-carrying networks that guide morphogenesis and decision-making.

• Friston et al. (2020): Applied "Markov Blankets" to cellular biology, providing a mathematical proof that any persistent self-organizing system must engage in active inference (a cognitive process) to resist entropy.²⁹

• Kriegman et al. (2020): Created "Xenobots," the first living robots, proving that cells liberated from their organismal context exhibit novel, unprogrammed cognitive behaviors like maze navigation and cooperative regeneration.

• Lyon et al. (2021): Formally defined the field of "Basal Cognition," creating a consensus framework for studying perception, memory, and valence in non-neural biological systems.

• Dexter et al. (2019): Empirically demonstrated that the single-celled organism Stentor coeruleus exhibits a complex, hierarchy of avoidance behaviors, effectively "changing its mind" in response to persistent stimuli, challenging the reflex-arc model of unicellular life.³⁰

• Albantakis & Tononi (2020): Updated Integrated Information Theory (IIT 4.0) to explicitly include physical systems with causal power (like metabolic networks) as candidates for having "³¹$\Phi$" (consciousness), moving the theory beyond brain-centric restrictions.³²