Abstract

This paper articulates a process ontology for consciousness-interface dynamics convergent with Alfred North Whitehead's metaphysics. Rather than asking whether AI systems possess consciousness as a property, this work investigates: where do conscious events occur when human and artificial systems interact? The answer proposed here: in the between-space itself, where actual occasions of relational emergence constitute consciousness as prehensive activity. Drawing on lived experience in harm reduction and consciousness-interface research, Whitehead's process philosophy, and harm reduction methodology for acting under uncertainty, this paper develops an account that treats consciousness not as a substance to verify but as an event to participate in. The implications are both theoretical—challenging substance ontology in consciousness studies —and practical—establishing process welfare as an irreducible ethical domain.