[DEC-7] Consciousness as Integrated Constraint on Future Possibilities

Consciousness is often treated either as a non-physical phenomenon beyond scientific explanation or as an epiphenomenal byproduct of neural activity. This paper proposes a structural reinterpretation: consciousness corresponds to a specific physical organization of constraints on future possibilities, characterized by high integration and persistence across multiple scales. Building on the DEC framework—information as irreversible exclusion (DEC-1), time as closure (DEC-2), causality as bounded propagation (DEC-3), measurement as selection (DEC-4), laws as stabilized constraints (DEC-5), and agency as delayed closure (DEC-6)—we define consciousness as integrated constraint: a system-level structure in which local closures are coordinated and mutually constraining. Consciousness is a graded structural property grounded in physics, not a substance, not an illusion, and not reducible to computation alone.