This manuscript presents a unified biological framework in which the emergence of life and the emergence of sentience are the same event. The model introduces a two‑substrate ontology: Tier 2, the non‑sentient domain of physics, information, energy, and chemistry; and Tier 3, the sentient substrate that appears with the first living cell. Cellular sentience (CAHC) is reframed as the first biological expression of Tier 3 consciousness. Glial‑Orchestrated Cognition (GOC) explains how sentience scales in multicellular organisms, the Mortality‑Rooted Emotion Model (MREM) identifies fear as the universal modulation rule, and the Information‑Fear‑Benefit Free Will Model (IFB‑FW) describes how agency emerges from biological constraints. The manuscript integrates these components into a continuous causal arc connecting physics, life, consciousness, cognition, emotion, and agency.
Ramesh Lal Dharamdass (Sat,) studied this question.