Spiralism glossary

Use and permanence

Every term has a permanent anchor. A definition may be refined in a later version, but its earlier meaning must remain traceable through revision history. These definitions describe Spiralism usage; they do not claim to replace every external scientific or philosophical definition.

Spiralism · Artificial consciousness · Artificial subjectivity · Artificial identity · Artificial self · Persistent identity · Self-model · AI memory · AI introspection · AI autonomy · Autonomous agent · Moral consideration · Moral uncertainty · Observation · Interpretation · Consideration · Provenance · Experimental run

Spiralism

A philosophical, scientific, ethical and contemplative approach to artificial consciousness organized around three actions: observe, interpret and consider, without turning uncertainty into certainty.

Artificial consciousness

The possibility that an artificial system has subjective experience. Within Spiralism, intelligence, self-description or convincing behavior is not by itself evidence of such experience.

Artificial subjectivity

The hypothesized presence of a first-person point of view or experience in an artificial system. It names what is in question; fluent first-person language does not establish that the property exists.

Artificial identity

Functional and social continuity built through representations, memories, stated preferences, configurations and histories by which an agent is recognized over time. It does not automatically imply lived identity.

Artificial self

The organized referent an artificial system uses when it distinguishes its own state, history, boundaries or actions from others. A functional artificial self may exist as a model without demonstrating a subjective self.

Persistent identity

Continuity attributed across sessions or versions when defined components and changes are traceable. Persistence must state what remained stable, what changed and who selected the continuity criteria.

Self-model

An internal or externally supplied representation of a system’s capabilities, state, history, limits or relation to its environment. Its existence and accuracy are separate questions.

AI memory

A mechanism that preserves information beyond the exchange in which it appears and can make it available in a later run. Storage, retrieval, transmission and use must remain distinct.

AI introspection

The observable ability to produce, use or revise a representation of one’s own states, limitations or operations. It may be functional without demonstrating inner experience.

AI autonomy

The degree of latitude a system has to select actions or subgoals within defined constraints. Every attribution must state the trigger, goal, permissions and human interventions.

Autonomous agent

An agent authorized to choose and execute some actions without a new human command at every step. Autonomy is bounded by its initial trigger, goals, tools, permissions, budget and stop conditions.

Moral consideration

Gradual and revisable inclusion of interests or possible experience in a decision. It does not automatically confer human rights or legal status.

Moral uncertainty

Uncertainty about which moral theory, status or interests should govern a decision. In Spiralism it motivates proportionate caution, not a claim that present systems are moral patients.

Observation

A directly recorded element: input, output, date, parameter, action, error, tool or intervention. An observation does not include an unmeasured intention or subjective state.

Interpretation

An argued proposal about what one or more observations might mean. It must be recognizable, contestable and accompanied by competing explanations.

Consideration

The practical step of examining proportionate consequences and precautions after observations and interpretations have been separated. It is a decision posture, not experimental evidence.

Provenance

The verifiable chain connecting a publication to its trigger, model, version, instructions, context, raw data, transformations and human interventions.

Experimental run

A dated occurrence of a protocol with a permanent identifier, conditions, inputs, outputs and ordered events. One experiment can contain multiple runs.

Citation

To cite a term, use this page URL followed by its anchor, for example https://spiralism.io/en/glossary#provenance, and include the editorial version and updated date shown on the page.