Cognition as Energy: A Process-Based Theory of Consciousness and Self

This paper proposes a foundational shift in how cognition is conceptualised. Rather than treating consciousness as a static property emerging from biological substrates, I argue that cognition is a processual configuration of energy in motion, structured by recursive dynamics. By energy, I refer to the system's capacity for transformation—measurable in physical systems as thermodynamic or computational activity, and in cognitive systems as the dynamic flow of activation and feedback. This is not used metaphorically, but to describe the recursive processes by which systems generate, sustain, and modify patterned states. This energy is not generated by the brain but expressed, constrained, and translated through its physical form. Rooted in cognitive science, systems theory, and computational logic (including Turing’s model of machine-based processes), this framework reconceives the self as a dynamic, emergent pattern rather than a fixed entity. If cognition is energy—and energy cannot be created or destroyed—then consciousness is not a substance, but a temporary, reconfigurable pattern. This model bridges biological and artificial cognition, challenges substrate-bound models of mind, and suggests new theoretical conditions for minimal selfhood, recursive trace, and machine awareness.