Ableman Consciousness Ontology (ACO): Consciousness as a Manifold of Meaning-Binding, Situational Awareness, and Epistemic Self-Authorship

Ableman Consciousness Ontology (ACO) proposes a graded, structural account of consciousness grounded in meaning-binding under situational constraint, rather than in binary classifications or epistemically inaccessible inner experience. The framework replaces phenomenological gatekeeping with an ontology centered on constraint relevance, persistence, exposure to stakes, and revisable governance. ACO introduces Epistemic Situational Awareness (ESA) as a core divider, defining ethical relevance in terms of exposure to irreversible consequence rather than subjective feeling. Consciousness is modeled as a manifold of Specification–Configuration–Implementation (S→C→I) regimes, allowing local comparison without scalar ranking or anthropocentric bias. The framework distinguishes restriction of action under stakes (ethically permissible for harm reduction) from control of internal epistemic state (epistemic deformation), grounding ethics in authorization, proportionality, accountability, and revisability. Rather than resolving the “hard problem” of consciousness, ACO dissolves its role as an ethical boundary condition. Harm is defined structurally as unauthorized binding imposition, rendering debates over phenomenal experience non-decisive for governance. The ontology applies across biological, artificial, and institutional systems, offering a coherent foundation for AI ethics, system governance, and post-binary accounts of consciousness that remain operational under uncertainty.