A draft version of a new paper (PDF format) by Knud Thomsen of the Paul Scherrer Institute has turned up online. The paper offers some insights into the Ouroborus Model of an algorithmic architecture for cognitive agents. The model is based on a "self-referential recursive process with alternating phases of data acquisition and evaluation". The model attempts to explain many aspects of cognition, memory, attention, self-awareness, consciousness, emotion, and even sleep without falling back on ideas such as quantum mechanics to fill in the gaps.