A Theory on Life, Intelligence and Consciousness

Abstract

This book develops a unified physicalist framework for three foundational questions: what is life, what is intelligence, and what is consciousness. Each answer is built from simple definitions, tested against difficult cases, and related to neighbouring ideas in philosophy, biology and astrobiology. Chapter 1 (Life) distinguishes having a life (existing) from being alive. Living things are defined by active self-influence: a self-regulating process, driven by a thing's own matter, that keeps it active and maintains it as one body with its own boundary. The Perfect Space Test is developed to classify things as living, dormant or dead, and is applied to sixteen cases. These include fire (non-living), viruses (dormant outside a host, living within it), stars (non-biological living things) and, using a procedure for large bodies, the planets: the Earth is living, Venus probably living and Mars dormant. Chapter 2 (A Hypothesis) proposes the Nested Self-Influence Hypothesis: planets that pass the Perfect Space Test are more likely to harbour living things, biological or otherwise, and if their star is also living, that life is more likely to be Earth-like in character. The hypothesis is tested against Earth, Mars, Venus, the ocean moons and exoplanets, and compared with the Gaia, Rare Earth and related hypotheses. It also yields a practical heuristic for the search for life. Chapter 3 (Intelligence) defines intelligence as the receptivity and ability to interpret physical or abstract stimuli into abstract stimuli, so that the same input can lead to different responses. Interpretation is defined as an internal state that stands for something that matters to the organism. Chapter 4 (Consciousness and Instinct) defines consciousness as intelligence whose inputs include the organism itself, distinguishing an implicit self, present in all intelligence, from an explicit self, present in consciousness. Instinct is treated as inborn interpretation combined with physical ability. The framework is applied to humans, plants, octopuses, infants, bacteria, sleeping people and artificial intelligence. Chapter 5 (Probability) introduces the Probability Cascade (Matter → Living → Intelligent → Conscious), in which each transition has a non-zero probability and requires no foresight or purpose. It applies this to the hard problem of consciousness, treating qualia as abstract stimuli produced by intelligent living systems, and states plainly that the framework takes a position on what feeling is rather than deriving it from something more basic. Chapter 6 (Order and Disorder) closes with a personal reflection: that order and disorder are mutually dependent, and that life as a whole is balanced but not fair to individuals. This revised edition sharpens the core definitions; adds reader questions and answers to the strongest objections; extends the Perfect Space Test to planets; introduces the Nested Self-Influence Hypothesis; and relates the work to existing literature, with 80 references. First edition published 19 April 2026. Revised edition published 5 October 2026.