Microscopic Physical Model for Elementary Consciousness in a Darwinian Approach to Quantum Mechanics

A physical model for phenomenological proto-consciousness as an intrinsic, primary property of matter is introduced. A fundamental particle is characterized as a classic-like system in physical space supplemented with an information space that endows the particle with the capacity of storing and processing incoming information which has causal power on the behaviour of the particle. These features transform the postulated initial random particles into information-theoretic Darwinian physical systems controlled by algorithms susceptible of evolution under natural selection. Consciousness is then defined as the elementary microscopic sentient process of subjectively experiencing a representation of the locations of the surrounding systems that is induced on matter by the irreversible erasure of dynamically superfluous stored information when the particle is measured. A physical description of the possible emergence of both quantum behaviour of matter in accordance with the conventional quantum formalism and consciousness in complex biological systems as a quantum coherence phenomenon is explored.