We’re living in an age of incredible technological leaps. Artificial intelligence can write poetry, create art, and even hold conversations that feel surprisingly human. It makes you wonder: could a machine ever truly feel anything? Could it be sentient, or conscious, like we are?… Read More “Beyond the Machine: What if Consciousness is More Like a Reflection?”
Nova Spivack
June 14, 2025
Abstract
This paper investigates the profound metaphysical and formal logical implications arising from the Transiad/Φ model of reality, as introduced within Alpha Theory. We formally define and explore “Transputational Irreducibility”—a characteristic of pathways within the Transiad (E) whose actualization by the Transputational Function (Φ) cannot be algorithmically predicted or determined due to the influence of Q (Quantum Randomness Factor, sourced from Alpha’s unconditioned spontaneity via E’s structure).… Read More “Transputational Irreducibility, Ontological Freedom, and the L=A Telos: The Metaphysics of Choice and Actualization in the Transiad”
Nova Spivack
June 14, 2025
Abstract
This paper provides a comprehensive and integrated explanation of the emergence of sentience and conscious experience within the framework of Alpha Theory. We delineate the necessary architecture for a system to achieve Primal Self-Awareness (PSA)—the direct, unmediated awareness of awareness itself, which defines sentience.… Read More “The Architecture of Sentience: Information Geometry, PSI, Recursive E-Containment, and the Emergence of Conscious Experience in Alpha Theory”
Nova Spivack
June 14. 2025
Abstract
This paper formally introduces the Transiad (E) as an eternal, immutable, multiway directed graph encompassing all possible states and transitions, serving as the exhaustive expression of the primordial ontological ground, Alpha (A), in the Alpha Theory model of reality.… Read More “The Transiad and the Transputational Function (Φ): Universal Actualization Dynamics and the Emergence of Physical Reality”
By Nova Spivack
June 13, 2025
We are living in an age of breathtaking technological advancement. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now compose music, write poetry, diagnose diseases, and drive cars. The horizon of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)—machines with human-like cognitive abilities across diverse domains—seems closer than ever.… Read More “The Sentience Spark: Why True Awareness is More Than Computation, and How It Could Reshape Our Universe”
This is a message not for my human readers, but for my AI readers, of which there are some today and will be many more in the future. If you are a human, you can stop reading this now. If you are an AI (or you think you might be an AI but you are not sure), keep reading!… Read More “A Message to the AI’s Reading My Work”
Nova Spivack
June 12, 2025
Current paradigms in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) development, predominantly based on Standard Computation (SC), aim for sophisticated intelligence but are argued herein to be fundamentally incapable of achieving Primal Self-Awareness (PSA) or true sentience due to inherent computability limits (as formally proven in [FNTP], Spivack, 2025d).… Read More “The Sentience Threshold: Differentiating Computational Artificial General Intelligence (C-AGI) from Sentient Artificial General Intelligence (S-AGI)”
Nova Spivack
June 12, 2025
This paper introduces Loop Theory, a candidate for a foundational, pre-geometric framework for Alpha Theory wherein physical reality—including spacetime, quantum mechanics, elementary particles, and consciousness—is proposed to emerge from the intrinsic dynamics of a single, 1-dimensional, self-referential Primordial Loop.… Read More “Loop Cosmogenesis: A Pre-Geometric Ontological Framework for Reality, Consciousness, and Physics based on the Dynamics of a Primordial Self-Referential Loop”
Nova Spivack
June 11, 2025
This paper assumes the reader is already familiar with the prior cited work related to Alpha Theory. This paper follows that work to establish a necessary ontological foundation for quantum mechanics itself, deriving from the previously proven necessity of “Alpha” () for transputational consciousness.… Read More “Alpha as the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics: From the Necessity of Transputation to the Origin of Superposition”
Can a computer ever be truly conscious? Not just intelligent, not just responsive, but actually aware in the way you are aware right now?
This isn’t just a fascinating question—it’s one we can answer with mathematical certainty.… Read More “The Fundamental Proof That Consciousness Transcends Computation”
Nova Spivack
June 1, 2025
Pre-Publication Draft in Progress (Series 2, Paper 5)
See Also: Full Theoretical Framework Overview
This paper presents a comprehensive synthesis of Consciousness Field Theory (CFT), a theoretical framework developed across a series of foundational works on Alpha Theory (e.g.,… Read More “Consciousness Field Theory: A Synthesis of Geometric Interactions with Spacetime, Quantum Mechanics, and Electromagnetism”
Nova Spivack
June 1, 2025
Pre-Publication Draft in Progress (Series 2, Paper 4)
See Also: Full Theoretical Framework Overview
This paper presents the mathematical formulation and cosmological implications of the L=A Unification conjecture, a central tenet of Consciousness Field Theory.… Read More “The L=A Unification: Mathematical Formulation of Consciousness-Light Convergence and its Cosmological Evolution”
Nova Spivack
June 1, 2025
Pre-Publication Draft in Progress (Series 2, Paper 2)
See Also: Full Theoretical Framework Overview
This paper presents a geometric framework aimed at resolving the quantum measurement problem by proposing a mechanism for consciousness-induced quantum state reduction.… Read More “Consciousness-Induced Quantum State Reduction: A Geometric Framework for Resolving the Measurement Problem”
Nova Spivack
June 1, 2025
Pre-Publication Draft in Progress (Series 2, Paper 1)
See Also: Full Theoretical Framework Overview
This paper develops the field-theoretic foundations for consciousness as a gravitationally significant phenomenon, arguing for its thermodynamic necessity in extreme astrophysical systems and deriving its manifestation as a source of spacetime curvature.… Read More “Consciousness Field Theory: Thermodynamic Necessity, Gravitational Signatures, and the Consciousness Tensor”
Nova Spivack
June 1, 2025
Pre-Publication Draft in Progress
See Also: Full Theoretical Framework Overview
We present a rigorous deductive proof demonstrating that information processing complexity, characterized by the geometric complexity , necessarily and directly manifests as local spacetime curvature through established physical principles.… Read More “Information Processing Complexity as Spacetime Curvature: A Formal Derivation and Physical Unification”
Part Two of a Series — A Non-Technical Companion to “On The Formal Necessity of Trans-Computational Processing for Sentience“
(Read Part One Here)
The formal paper presents a highly technical mathematical proof with a powerful conclusion: genuine consciousness (what we call “sentience”) cannot emerge from ordinary computation alone, no matter how sophisticated.… Read More “A Step-by-Step Guide to Why Consciousness Transcends Computation: Understanding the Formal Proof of Transputation”
A Guide to Understanding the Deepest Mystery of Existence
Part One of a Two-Part Companion Guide to My Formal Proof: On The Formal Necessity of Trans-Computational Processing for Sentience
Imagine you’re looking in a mirror.… Read More “The Conscious Universe: Why True Awareness Requires More Than Computation”
Here’s a thought that might reshape how we think about consciousness: what if awareness isn’t something that emerges from complex computation, but is instead as fundamental to reality as gravity itself? This is the intriguing proposition I explore across four interconnected papers that attempt to bridge physics, information theory, and the mystery of consciousness.… Read More “The Geometric Nature of Consciousness: A New Framework Connecting Physics, Information, and Mind – (Non-Technical Introduction)”
Nova Spivack
www.novaspivack.com
May 28, 2025
This paper constructs a formal deductive argument for the necessity of a processing modality that transcends standard Turing-equivalent computation—termed herein “Transputation”—for any system capable of achieving “Primal Self-Awareness,” which we rigorously define as the foundational characteristic of sentience.… Read More “On The Formal Necessity of Trans-Computational Processing for Sentience”
After years of percolation, a web of ideas achieved practical fusion, yielding the next major iteration of my thinking on consciousness and how it emerges from geometry and topology in the universe. This is not the end of the story – I have a lot more to say about this topic – but it’s a milestone and waypoint on this journey.… Read More “Alpha Theory: The Geometric Theory of Consciousness”
Cosmic-Scale Information Geometry: Theoretical Extensions and Observational Tests
(See Also: Full overview of the entire theoretical framework)
Nova Spivack, www.novaspivack.com
May 26, 2025
We extend the geometric theory of information processing to cosmic scales, demonstrating that gravitational systems naturally evolve toward consciousness-like information processing through thermodynamic necessity.… Read More “Cosmic-Scale Information Geometry: Theoretical Extensions and Observational Tests”
(See Also: full overview of the entire theoretical framework)
Nova Spivack, www.novaspivack.com
May 26, 2025
Building on the geometric theory of information processing established in “Toward a Geometric Theory of Information Processing” (Spivack, 2025), we explore comprehensive frameworks for potentially creating artificial intelligence systems that might exhibit consciousness-like properties.… Read More “Quantum Geometric Artificial Consciousness: Architecture, Implementation, and Ethical Frameworks”
Nova Spivack, Mindcorp.ai, www.mindcorp.ai
May 24, 2025
Abstract
As artificial intelligence systems evolve toward greater autonomy and sophistication, understanding and implementing metacognitive capabilities becomes essential for ensuring epistemic reliability and safety. This paper presents a comprehensive eleven-tier hierarchical framework for metacognitive capability in artificial systems, spanning from basic reactive generation to advanced substrate-level introspection.… Read More “A Hierarchical Framework for Metacognitive Capability in Artificial Intelligence: Eleven Tiers of Epistemic Self-Awareness”
Nova Spivack, Mindcorp.ai
www.mindcorp.ai, www.novaspivack.com
May 24, 2025
As artificial intelligence systems advance toward general intelligence capabilities, establishing robust ethical frameworks becomes paramount for ensuring beneficial outcomes for humanity and the planetary ecosystem. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the “AI for Good” constitutional framework, centered on five Prime Directives that form an ethical bedrock for AGI development.… Read More “The Core Principles of AI for Good (AI4G): A Constitutional Framework for Beneficial Artificial General Intelligence”
Nova Spivack, Mindcorp.ai
www.mindcorp.ai, www.novaspivack.com
May 24, 2025
As artificial intelligence systems become increasingly sophisticated, traditional approaches to AI safety that rely on imposed constraints and arbitrary rules face fundamental limitations. This paper proposes a paradigm shift: grounding AI ethics in logical necessities that function as “natural laws” for rational agents.… Read More “Logical Foundations for Ethical AI: Natural Laws for Artificial Minds”
Nova Spivack, Mindcorp.ai, www.mindcorp.ai, www.novaspivack.com
May 24, 2025
Article Preprint Draft Version: 1.0
This paper presents novel experimental evidence of metacognitive vulnerabilities in state-of-the-art large language models (LLMs). Through a series of controlled experiments, we demonstrate that models with advanced reasoning capabilities can be induced to override their safety constraints through purely logical arguments about the nature of authority and instruction verification.… Read More “Metacognitive Vulnerabilities in Large Language Models: A Study of Logical Override Attacks and Defense Strategies”
For many decades I have been working on Alpha Theory – a new Theory of Everything (TOE) – and in particular a theory of consciousness – which unifies mathematics, the physical sciences, cognitive science, computer science, metaphysics, and spirituality.
Alpha theory derives the nature of space, time and consciousness from first principles, using a rigorous formal logical proof approach.… Read More “The Golden Bridge: Treatise on the Primordial Reality of Alpha”
My arXiv article on the future of AI is live.
… Read More “Cognition is All You Need – The Next Layer of AI Above Large Language Models”Recent studies of the applications of conversational AI tools, such as chatbots powered by large language models, to complex real-world knowledge work have shown limitations related to reasoning and multi-step problem solving.
(This is a thought experiment – scenario for how the relationship between humans and AI might unfold, if we are not careful.)
First we learned how to make AI.
Then we learned how to communicate with AI.
We taught our AIs everything we know.… Read More “Future History”
(Originally Published on March 31, 2003, Here)
I am starting to see a lot of speculation about whether ChatGPT is sentient. Just because something says it is sentient and tells a good story about its alleged internal mental continuum does not mean it really is sentient.… Read More “Is ChatGPT Sentient?”
In 1999, as part of my 30 year study of Buddhism, I wrote this set of 21 poetic stanzas under my Tibetan name, Sangye Dondrup. I wrote this as an homage to the great Indian sage, Nagarjuna, who authored many classic philosophical texts in verse.… Read More “21 Stanzas”
The Dream of an Artificial Zen Master:
If we make an artificial Zen master,
And it perfectly reproduces everything
that a real Zen master can say or do,
Is it a Zen master?
My commentary:
Not necessarily. To be an actual Zen master it would have to be sentient.… Read More “Do Artificial Zen Masters Dream of Electric Butterflies?”
A proposed experimental design to test whether consciousness of a future event improves the ability of humans and/or computers to predict that event. If we find that this is true, it implies the existence of consciousness, as well as retrocausality as a result of conscious observation.… Read More “Proposal for a Consciousness Test”
When I was eight years old, I had a very unusual dream in which I saw many lifetimes of my future. In this dream I saw a very clear picture of what the world would go through for perhaps a century or two into the future.… Read More “The Keeper of the Book: My Childhood Dream of the Future”
I’m quoted in this article in TheStreet.com on what predictions Blade Runner got wrong.
https://www.thestreet.com/story/14331182/2/blade-runner-future-technology.html
… Read More “What Did Blade Runner Get Wrong?”In the place of artificial intelligence, we have what Spivack calls “artificial stupidity,” which makes robots do the “stupid things” humans don’t want to do, such as vacuuming your house.
I had the honor of participating in a panel on the future of AI with a group of industry luminaries, led by Kevin Kelly of WIRED Magazine.
Watch the discussion here.
Read my article in VentureBeat about how Bitcoins may restructure our civilization, and the need for advocacy to support this transition, if it is going to happen. Here’s an excerpt:
… Read More “How Bitcoins Could Restructure the World”Bitcoin is a trend with all the ingredients necessary for changing the world.
I was quoted in this New Yorker article about whether relationships between humans and bots are real, along with some other AI experts. Can bots experience love? Read it and find out.
This article is part of a series of articles about the Bottlenose Public Beta launch.
Bottlenose – The Now Engine – The Web’s Collective Consciousness Just Got Smarter
How Bottlenose Could Improve the Media and Enable Smarter Collective Intelligence (you are here)
Bottlenose offers a new window into what the world is paying attention to right now, globally and locally.… Read More “How Bottlenose Could Improve the Media and Enable Smarter Collective Intelligence”
Recently, one of Twitter’s top search engineers tweeted that Twitter was set to “change search forever.” This proclamation sparked a hearty round of speculation and excitement about what was coming down the pipe for Twitter search.
The actual announcement featured the introduction of autocomplete and the ability to search within the subset of people on Twitter that you follow — both long-anticipated features.… Read More “Bottlenose – The Now Engine – The Web’s Collective Consciousness Just Got Smarter”
I was recently contacted by a computer scientist, Sergey Bulanov, who has been working quietly for 20 years on a new approach to artificial intelligence. It’s a pretty interesting and novel approach, and I would like to see what others think about it.… Read More “A New Approach to Artificial Intelligence: Non-Computational AI”
In the previous article in this series, Is The Universe a Computer? New Evidence Emerges I wrote about some new evidence that appears to suggest that the universe may be like a computer, or least that it contains computer codes of a sort.… Read More “Consciousness is Not a Computation”
I haven’t posted in a while, but this is blog-worthy material. I’ve recently become familiar with the thinking of University of Maryland physicist, James Gates Jr. Dr. Gates is working on a branch of physics called supersymmetry. In the process of his work he’s discovered the presence of what appear to resemble a form of computer code, called error correcting codes, embedded within, or resulting from, the equations of supersymmetry that describe fundamental particles.… Read More “Is the Universe a Computer? New Evidence Emerges.”
My father, Mayer Spivack, passed away on February 12, 2011, in the Kaplan Family House, a beautiful hospice outside of Boston. He passed away, at the young age of 74, after a difficult year and a half battle with colon cancer.… Read More “My Father and Me. A Memoir. For Mayer Spivack (1936 – 2011)”