On the Causal Structure of Conscious Identity

This work develops a structural framework for conscious identity across time. It argues that identity cannot be determined by resemblance, memory, information, structure, function, or behavioral equivalence, because each of these admits multiple independent realizations.The analysis establishes that identity persistence requires a single, continuous, non branching causal trajectory in which each state is internally generated from its predecessor within the same integrated system. The framework is developed through three components. A formal constraint on all descriptive accounts of identity, a minimal symbolic system specifying the structural conditions of identity preservation, and an operational test that distinguishes realization from persistence. The result is a unified criterion for identity across biological, artificial, and hybrid systems. Where causal continuity is preserved, identity may persist in principle. Where it is not preserved, descriptive equivalence, however exact, does not establish continuation. " A separate paper will present representative and extreme cases, including split-brain scenarios, gradual replacement, brain-in-a-vat models, mind–mind interactions, and others, to test whether a single continuous, non-branching causal trajectory is preserved under the present framework. "