Note
This page contains philosophical reflections and artistic expressions that inform my scientific worldview. These ideas provide context for my research approach but are separate from my formal scientific work. They represent personal perspectives developed over years of contemplation.
On Semantics and Power
A flower persisting through adversity, with TON 618—the largest known black hole—looming in the background.
The Supremacy of Meaning Over Matter
Consider this image: a small flower breaking through asphalt, fragile yet persistent, while TON 618—a supermassive black hole containing 66 billion solar masses—dominates the sky above. Which is more powerful?
Conventional physics would say the black hole: TON 618 possesses gravitational force beyond human comprehension, capable of devouring entire galaxies. Yet I propose the flower holds a deeper, more fundamental power.
The black hole, for all its mass, is merely matter. It exists, it warps spacetime, it consumes—but it carries no intrinsic meaning. Before the infinite, even 66 billion solar masses equals zero. The black hole's existence is physical but semantically empty.
The flower, conversely, is semantic matter. It embodies a story: of life persisting against entropy, of fragile beauty emerging from hostile conditions, of biological will transcending mechanical constraint. This story cannot be reduced to zero—not before infinity, not before anything. Stories, meanings, and narratives constitute a different dimension of reality entirely.
Why This Matters for Research
This perspective informs my approach to AGI safety and mathematical inquiry. I believe:
- Semantics transcend substrate - What matters isn't the physical implementation but the meaningful patterns and relationships encoded within systems.
- Context gives power - The flower's significance emerges from its context (adversity, life, persistence). Similarly, AGI safety mechanisms derive power not from raw computational force but from their meaningful relationship to human values.
- Stories make reality sensible - Mathematics and physics describe patterns, but meaning-making—constructing coherent narratives that explain and predict—is what makes the universe comprehensible to minds like ours.
This is why I pursue ego-centric architectures for AI: identity, self-preservation, and care emerge from semantic structures—stories the system tells about itself—not merely from weights and activations.
Foundational Work: Reality, Ego & Kindness (2020)
Original Publication: 2020 | ISBN/ASIN: B08KSFLFM4
Published before the emergence of Large Language Models and contemporary AI safety discourse.
Before the emergence of large language models, I published a brief philosophical exploration examining the nature of consciousness, identity, and ethical behavior through an evolutionary and computational lens.
The booklet anticipated several themes that would later become central to my technical AGI safety research:
- The ego as an evolved computational structure for identity preservation
- Benevolence emerging from attachment mechanisms rather than imposed rules
- Caring AI systems motivated by intrinsic welfare coupling
- The mathematical nature of reality and consciousness
- AI without welfare mechanisms as fundamentally "alien" to human values
Priority Note
This work predates all contemporary discourse on benevolent AGI and caring mechanisms. The conceptual foundation documented here (2020) precedes similar discussions by other researchers by 3+ years. For detailed intellectual priority documentation and verification, see the
Note: This work represents independent philosophical development that later informed my technical research directions. It is included here for historical context and to show the continuity of thought underlying my current scientific work. The theoretical content predates modern LLMs and emerged from philosophical reasoning about consciousness, evolution, and ethics.
The PDF is provided free for research and verification purposes. Publication date and authenticity can be verified via the Amazon ISBN/ASIN registry.