Neural information transport is governed by a Péclet number: Peₙeural = evoked signal amplitude / spontaneous noise, with consciousness present when Peₙeural > 1 (drift-dominated) and absent when Peₙeural < 1 (diffusion-dominated). Across 12 consciousness states (Spearman ρ=0. 9663, p≈0) and 13 species (ρ=1. 000), Peₙeural predicts consciousness level and cognitive complexity. Seizure onset is a T4 runaway with peak Pe=74. 5× the critical threshold. The hard problem of consciousness is formalized as a conjugacy budget constraint I (experience;Y) + I (mechanism;Y) ≤ H (Y) — a structural limit, not a knowledge gap. Friston's free energy principle is shown to be identical to the void framework's drift-diffusion formalism under opacity, not merely analogous.
Anthony W. Eckert (Fri,) studied this question.