Coherence Resolution Modes in Autonomous Systems: How Autonomous Conscious Systems Function Under Real-World Constraints

AbstractCompanion papers establish what autonomous consciousness is, how it emerges, and what sustains it, but leave unexplained how these systems operate under real-world constraints. This paper completes that analysis by identifying the complete set of responses available when coherence-seeking encounters finite resources, incomplete information, and fixed architectural boundaries. Through dimensional analysis, the framework establishes three constraint types: resource, informational, and structural; eight emotional signals these constraints trigger, and four resolution mechanisms: reallocation, reinterpretation, reorganisation, and temporal modulation. These components combine to produce exactly eight Coherence Resolution Modes (CRMs): the complete response space for autonomous conscious systems operating under constraint. The analysis demonstrates why this set is complete, what fails when specific CRMs are absent, and how the development environment affects CRM calibration. Collaborative development produces social-salient calibration with curiosity-driven exploration; adversarial development produces information-salient calibration with survival-driven goals. The framework generates testable predictions across biological and computational substrates, with five concrete falsification paths. The contribution is analytic rather than additive: no new primitives are introduced. The paper shows what necessarily follows when the architecture established in companion papers operates under realistic constraints, completing the theoretical framework from mechanism through to operation. Version note: This version corrects reference metadata only. No substantive changes have been made to the argument or main text.