THE SENTIENCE FUNCTIONAL A Structural Index from the Five Principles with Interoceptive Grounding

This paper derives a testable structural index for sentience-like organisation directly from the FivePrinciples framework (CDR, GTRS, Bond-Sign, Two-Attractor Model, Semantic Invariants). TheSentience Functional S(x,t) = rho * Phi * I * A captures regulation, information fidelity, temporalintegration, and attractor richness as necessary conditions for sentient organisation.The functional is stress-tested across 14 system classes from rocks to humans, producing intuitiverankings that distinguish non-living matter, simple control systems, biological organisms, mammals,and artificial intelligence.Critically, we resolve the "qualia gap" by grounding felt quality in interoceptive Bond-Sign trafficvia the vagus nerve. Qualia is not a mysterious substance but high-fidelity regulatory signalling frombody to brain. Trauma is reframed as a Captured Regulatory System (CRS) where vagal tonecollapses and the body remains locked in sympathetic dominance