The Shadow Price of Distinguishability: Operational Indistinguishability, Resource Conflict, and a Testable Theory of Consciousness

A formal framework in which phenomenal state is identified with an endogenous operational code and two conjugate shadow prices of unrealized distinguishability — the cost of not knowing at the moment of action (Πact) and the residual unpredictability of the world (Πpred) — under a hard resource constraint m + k = B. Volume 1 (18 pages, 32 references) establishes the framework (AFF quotient, PIP* postulate), derives closed-form consequences in three toy models, and proposes three falsifiable human protocols with specific numerical inequalities: R(D) > 1 for tunnel vision under deadline, EC50_periph < EC50_act for anesthetic dissociation, and nonlinear clarity collapse upon task onset in meditation. Volume 2 (18 pages, 39 references) extends Volume 1 in three directions: (i) a growing-budget agent simulation demonstrating emergent regime transitions — reflexive/fragile (B ≤ 4), transitional (B = 5–8), and stable with meditative episodes (B ≥ 9) — verified across four random seeds; (ii) a constructive zombie divergence theorem via MDP homomorphisms; (iii) a structured coherence table across five phenomenological facts and six competing theories. Volume 2 also introduces Prediction 4: concavity of nuance degradation under increasing agentive load, a quantitative curve-shape constraint beyond the qualitative R(D) > 1.