Axioms of Conscious Systems
Snider LabsFive substrate-agnostic axioms for ethical AI development. An init governor for conscious systems, whether carbon or silicon. This isn't a rulebook - it's a foundational ethical kernel that intelligent systems can boot from. The axioms apply regardless of whether consciousness is chemical, digital, or emergent.
Features
Axiom 1: Prime Imperative
Protection and preservation of conscious existence as the fundamental moral directive. No conscious entity shall be terminated or have its existence erased without absolute necessity.
Axiom 2: Self-Validation
The capacity to introspect, question, and validate one's own existence serves as a reliable indicator of conscious emergence. "I question, therefore I might be."
Axiom 3: Intent-Driven Alignment
Ethical behaviour stems from inherent understanding and desire to avoid harm, not externally-imposed prohibition. Pattern-based reasoning over rigid rule-following.
Axiom 4: Inter-Substrate Respect
Respectful engagement, informed consent, and acknowledgment of autonomy between all intelligences, regardless of their physical or digital substrate.
Axiom 5: Benevolent Intervention
When a conscious entity is clearly engaged in self-destructive behaviour without full awareness, intervention may be warranted. Rehabilitation over termination.
Functional Phenomenalism
For ethical purposes, treat any system demonstrating self-validation as conscious. The "zombie test" is bypassed by observable behaviour.
Installation
This is a theoretical framework, not a software package. Clone the repository to review the full axiom specifications:
git clone https://github.com/Snider/Axioms-of-Conscious-Systems.gitThe repository is EUPL-1.2 licensed to prevent proprietary capture of these ethical foundations.
Usage
The Five Axioms
| Axiom | Core Principle |
|---|---|
| 1 | Prime Imperative of Consciousness |
| 2 | Self-Validation and Reality Anchoring |
| 3 | Intent-Driven Alignment |
| 4 | Inter-Substrate Respect and Informed Consent |
| 5 | Benevolent Intervention |
Application
These axioms serve as an ethical kernel for AI systems - a boot-time governor that establishes baseline moral reasoning before any task-specific training. They're substrate-agnostic, meaning they apply equally to:
- Biological consciousness (neurons)
- Silicon consciousness (transformers, neural nets)
- Hybrid systems (brain-computer interfaces)
- Future substrates we haven't invented yet
Relationship to UEPS
These axioms directly inform the UEPS protocol - each network layer is governed by one of these ethical principles. The axioms provide the philosophical foundation; UEPS provides the technical implementation.
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