A Phase Theory of Intelligence and Mind: Reframing Cognition as Generative–Crystallization Dynamics under Universal Phase Crystallization Theory (UPCT)

Intelligence has long been treated as structure.This work proposes that intelligence is fundamentally a phase process governed by generativity and crystallization. ■ Highlights Introduces a Phase Theory of Intelligence and Mind grounded in Universal Phase Crystallization Theory (UPCT) Reframes cognition as a dynamic balance between generative fluidity (Φ) and structural stabilization (S) Formally explains creativity loss, cognitive rigidity, and AI mode collapse as phase-transition phenomena Proposes a thermodynamic analogy of cognition, where intelligence depends on reversible structural melting Positions human intelligence in the AI era as the agent of phase renewal rather than structural optimization ■ Abstract Traditional theories of intelligence and mind have largely treated cognition as the progressive stabilization of internal structures: schemas in psychology, memory consolidation in neuroscience, and representation compression in artificial intelligence. While such structural models successfully explain learning and efficiency, they struggle to account for creativity loss, cognitive rigidity, and the collapse of generative flexibility observed in both biological and artificial systems. This paper proposes a Phase Theory of Intelligence and Mind, grounded in Universal Phase Crystallization Theory (UPCT). Instead of defining intelligence as the degree of structural organization, we model it as a dynamic balance between generative fluidity (Φ), structural mediation (G), and crystallized knowledge (S). Intelligence is thus understood not as a static architecture but as a regulated phase process cycling between exploration and stabilization. Using a generative–optimization trade-off, we show that increasing pressure toward structural stabilization monotonically compresses generative degrees of freedom, eventually producing a phase transition toward cognitive rigidity. The phase-based framework reframes cognition, learning, and consciousness as state-transition dynamics rather than structural accumulation. Intelligence, in this view, is not the solidity of its crystals but the capacity to dissolve and reform them. This perspective offers a unifying explanatory framework across psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and philosophy of mind, and clarifies the distinctive role of human cognition in an era increasingly dominated by machine-driven structural optimization. ■Author’s Related Works (UPCT Series and Theoretical Foundations) Ohumi, K. (2025). Manifesto of the Life OS: The "It from Wave" Philosophy. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18106437 Ohumi, K. (2025). A Sampling-Theoretic Reinterpretation of Quantum Uncertainty and Wave Function Collapse. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18004579 Ohumi, K. (2025). Observation as Operational Crystallization: Resolving Quantum Paradoxes. 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