Continuous Neural Continuity Architecture (CNCA): A Falsifiable Research Framework for Progressive Functional Integration, Neural Shadowing, and Rolling Replacement of Living Neural Tissue

Abstract

Continuous Neural Continuity Architecture (CNCA) is a falsifiable research framework for investigating whether living neural functions can be progressively integrated into, shared with, and locally transferred toward newly engineered neural tissue while the larger neural system remains continuously active. The framework is motivated by advances in neural transplantation, brain organoids and assembloids, neural interfaces, induced pluripotent stem cell technologies, regenerative neuroscience, and activity-dependent neural plasticity. CNCA does not assume that a connectome alone constitutes a person, nor does it claim that consciousness, personal identity, whole-brain replacement, or biological immortality has been demonstrated. The proposed architecture introduces several experimentally separable concepts: Neural Shadowing, in which an engineered neural network is exposed to activity associated with an existing functional circuit; Functional Sharing, in which original and newly integrated tissue jointly contribute to a task; and Rolling Replacement, in which local biological functions would be transferred only after stable integration and functional redundancy have been established. To make the proposal scientifically testable, CNCA distinguishes anatomical, physiological, functional, mnemonic, causal, and subjective continuity. It proposes operational measures including a Functional Transfer Ratio, Causal Contribution Index, Memory Preservation Vector, and Continuity Evidence Profile, together with explicit failure and falsification criteria. The manuscript develops a staged experimental program progressing from in-vitro neural systems and assembloids to animal models and repeated local replacement experiments. It also presents a 17-stage development ladder extending from neural repair and augmentation through neural shadowing, functional sharing, rolling replacement, regional migration, extracranial expansion, body-interface migration, and ultimately a continuously maintainable nervous system. The strongest CNCA hypothesis is deliberately limited: progressive replacement may permit preservation of causal and functional continuity better than discontinuous copy-and-reinstantiate approaches. Whether such causal continuity is sufficient for subjective continuity remains an unresolved scientific and philosophical question for which no validated empirical test currently exists. CNCA is therefore presented as a research program and falsifiable systems hypothesis, not as a demonstrated medical procedure or a claim of consciousness transfer.