TEVSER: a theory of evolving self-representations

Engineering notes

Key topics: autonomous driving, prediction, control. See the paper for implementation details and experimental results.

Chinese explanation / 中文解读

中文解读待补充：本站会优先为端到端自动驾驶、BEV感知、3D目标检测、轨迹预测、路径规划、LiDAR感知等高价值论文补充中文说明。

Original abstract

This paper proposes TEVSER (Theory of Evolving Self-Representations), a framework describing how increasingly complex forms of regulation give rise to psyche, consciousness, and intelligence. The central idea is that a living system is a self-regulating system that maintains homeostasis. Within this perspective, regulation can be described as a hierarchy of self-representations ( Ω ), emerging as control structures that guide behavior. Within this hierarchy, distinct functional levels correspond to qualitatively different forms of cognition. In particular, the framework identifies the emergence of a phenomenological internal world (Ω 2 ), spatial subjectivity (“here,” Ω 3 ), temporal presence (“now,” Ω 6 ), behavioral intelligence (Ω 8 ), self-consciousness (“who,” Ω 10 ), and abstract symbolic intellect (Ω 11 ). Within this perspective, consciousness is not treated as a singular entity but as a structured and graded property arising from the organization of self-representing systems. The framework offers a constructive approach to the hard problem of consciousness, addressing the apparent paradox between the material nature of the brain and the seemingly immaterial character of subjective experience. TEVSER integrates and extends existing approaches, including predictive coding, active inference, higher-order theories, and integrated information theory, by situating them within a unified hierarchical architecture. Importantly, the framework generates a set of testable hypotheses linking levels of self-representation to neural organization, behavior, and evolutionary complexity. These predictions provide a basis for empirical validation and position TEVSER not only as a conceptual model but as a research program for investigating consciousness and intelligence in biological and artificial systems.

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