Metabolic Navigation Theory (MNT) is a theoretical and substrate-independent framework that reconceptualizes cognition and consciousness as processes of navigation rather than decision-making or representation. The theory addresses a structural limitation shared by many contemporary cognitive, informational, and functionalist models: their reliance on discrete choice as the primary explanatory unit of intelligent behavior. MNT proposes that real-world cognition unfolds as continuous trajectories within probabilistic fields shaped by uncertainty, partial observability, and changing constraints. Within this framework, consciousness is defined operationally as a navigation operator responsible for sustaining, adjusting, and terminating trajectories over time. Decisions are treated as secondary markers within trajectories, rather than as primary mechanisms of control. The theory introduces a navigational interpretation of attention as a steering parameter governing trajectory direction, stability, and responsiveness. It further defines truth as trajectory stability under varying pressure, and error as entry into high-entropy or non-viable regions of the field. These concepts are formulated without metaphysical assumptions and without commitment to any specific biological or computational substrate. Metabolic Navigation Theory is designed to be applicable across domains, including human cognition, artificial intelligence systems, collective agents, and hybrid configurations. It does not replace existing cognitive or computational models, but provides a higher-level navigational layer that organizes how states and field dynamics are traversed over time. This publication is theoretical in nature and does not claim empirical validation. Instead, it establishes a formally constrained and falsifiable conceptual framework intended to support future theoretical, computational, and empirical research. MNT is structurally compatible with related works such as Metabolic Tzolkin OS and Metabolic Weather, while remaining a self-contained and independently usable theory.
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