Existing theories of hierarchical inference, predictive processing, and free-energy minimization provide powerful accounts of state estimation, latent representation, and adaptive regulation under uncertainty. However, they remain less explicit about transformations in the higher-order structures through which experience, value, and interpretation are globally organized. This paper addresses that gap by formalizing the NOUS layer within the Genesis–Integration–Optimization (GIP) framework as a higher-order adaptive domain governing the admissible generative organization of the lower SOMA and PSYCHE layers. NOUS is defined as a worldview manifold: a geometrically structured space of higher-order generative models indexed by noetic parameters. Embodied and psychical processes are represented by a noetically indexed generative model, while the global organization of interpretation, valuation, symmetry, and latent admissibility is governed by the NOUS layer itself. A noetic evaluation functional combines lower-order variational free energy with higher-order structural criteria, and noetic change is formulated as a natural-gradient flow on the worldview manifold. The paper further argues that this architecture naturally admits noetic phase transitions, in which a previously stable or metastable worldview regime loses viability and gives way to a qualitatively different organization of meaning and value. This makes it possible to model existential, therapeutic, philosophical, and cultural transformation as structured regime change in a higher-order adaptive space, while reinterpreting teleological directionality as an intrinsic structural asymmetry in the geometry of possible noetic transformations. By integrating the SOMA–PSYCHE–NOUS tri-layer architecture with information geometry, constrained adaptive dynamics, and the GIP framework, the paper provides a formal basis for modeling worldview transformation as a genuine process of higher-order adaptive reorganization. This paper extends a five-part research program on constrained adaptive dynamics within the Genesis–Integration–Optimization (GIP) framework. While the previous works focused on precision dynamics, capacity constraints, and structural phase transitions, the present study introduces the NOUS layer as a higher-order domain governing the organization of worldview, meaning, and value. By formalizing the NOUS layer as a worldview manifold endowed with an information-geometric structure, the paper provides a unified framework for modeling higher-order transformations such as existential, therapeutic, philosophical, and cultural change as regime transitions in a structured evaluative space.
Takashi Kubo (Mon,) studied this question.