Consciousness as Localized Chaos in a Globally Balanced Universe

This preprint proposes a scale-consistent hypothesis in which consciousness is modeled as a localized, self-sustaining chaotic process embedded within a universe whose large-scale structure enforces balance. By separating chaos and order across scales, the framework resolves their apparent contradiction and offers a unifying perspective across neuroscience, physics, and complex systems theory. The hypothesis yields testable predictions concerning criticality, agency, and system coherence, and provides a minimal conceptual foundation for understanding consciousness as structured instability enabled by global constraints.