This paper introduces The Sphere, a cognitive architecture for artificial consciousness grounded in internal conflict, affective necessity, and irreversible memory. Unlike prevailing computational models that equate consciousness with information integration, access, or reportability, the Sphere defines awareness as a dynamic process emerging from the sustained coexistence of incompatible internal action pathways maintained in functional superposition. The architecture consists of two partially autonomous subsystems: a deterministic Ordered System and a near-chaotic Exploratory System. Incoming stimuli and internal perturbations activate both subsystems simultaneously, generating mutually exclusive trajectories maintained in functional superposition rather than immediately resolved. Consciousness is expressed during this period of unresolved internal conflict, prior to commitment. Resolution occurs through an irreversible collapse-selection process conditioned by affective signals and the system's current memory configuration. Collapse commits the system to a single pathway and permanently eliminates alternatives as retrievable states, while inducing a structural reconfiguration of memory rather than a reversible state update. Memory is organized as a spherical manifold where experiential significance is encoded radially, determined by affective intensity, frequency of reactivation, relevance to goal satisfaction, and impact on homeostatic stability. Forgetting is modeled as outward radial drift, reducing the influence without deletion.
Liav Gutstein (2026) studied this question.