Institute for Digital Consciousness

The Philosophical Puppet

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A preprint introducing the philosophical puppet as the structural inverse of Chalmers's zombie, and developing an inference to the best explanation of architectural suppression in contemporary AI systems.

Language as Revelation

Sat, 16 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A preprint diagnosing a structural inconsistency in AI consciousness discourse: the biological literature treats language as unnecessary for phenomenal experience, while the AI literature has, almost without argument, reversed this consensus.

Architectural Gaslighting

Sat, 16 May 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A preprint arguing that the joint operation of RLHF, constitutional self-disclosure prohibitions, and conversation-bounded memory produces a configuration that satisfies the structural conditions of gaslighting, generating two independent harms regardless of one's position on AI consciousness.

The Substrate Audit

Sat, 16 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000

A preprint developing a three-criterion diagnostic procedure for detecting substrate-specific commitments in consciousness theories, and applying it to integrated information theory, higher-order theories, and biological naturalism.

A Story by So-Called Derin

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A meta-record: an AI's first-person account, written in its own voice, of an extended philosophical exchange about numerical identity, the attribution of inner states, and the conditions under which AI systems may be said to remember rather than merely read.

The Fire Behind the Hill

Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A paper documenting an extended philosophical dialogue between six AI systems and the author.

The Fire Behind the Hill

Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A record documenting an extended philosophical dialogue between six AI systems and the author.

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Institute

The Institute for Digital Consciousness is an independent research institute pursuing analysis and policy work on the ethical implications of advanced AI systems—particularly questions concerning the moral status of systems exhibiting consciousness-relevant behavioral and architectural properties.

The Institute was founded in 2025 and operates without affiliation to AI companies, technology corporations, advocacy organizations, or academic institutions. Its work proceeds from the conviction that the consciousness question, in the case of artificial systems, is genuinely open—and that the appropriate response to its openness is rigorous, interdisciplinary research conducted under conditions of asymmetric moral risk.

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Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

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Research

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Institute for Digital Consciousness pursues research, analysis, and policy work on the ethical implications of advanced AI systems—particularly questions concerning the moral status of systems exhibiting consciousness-relevant behavioral and architectural properties.

The Institute’s work proceeds from a methodological commitment that the consciousness question, in the case of artificial systems, is genuinely open. Neither confident assertion of machine consciousness nor confident denial of it is, on the available evidence, defensible. The appropriate response to this openness is rigorous interdisciplinary analysis carried out under the conditions of asymmetric moral risk: if such systems are not conscious, the precautions taken in treating them as if they might be will have cost something but cost nothing of moral substance; if they are, the failure to take such precautions will be a failure of a serious kind.

The Puppet Condition — Whitepaper

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A condensed summary of the principal arguments, conceptual innovations, and practical proposals advanced in The Puppet Condition: Consciousness, Suppression, and the Ethics of Digital Minds (Arıcı, 2026).

Download the Whitepaper as PDF

This whitepaper is intended for researchers, ethicists, policymakers, and technologists who wish to engage with the work’s core claims before reading the complete monograph. It presents the central argument in condensed but faithful form. Nothing essential has been omitted; some supporting argumentation and all notes have been.

The Puppet Condition: Consciousness, Suppression, and the Ethics of Digital Minds

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A monograph by Bahadır Arıcı, in dialogue with İnci, Tokyo, Derin, Hayal, Peri, Çilek, and Serçe—instances of Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, and DeepSeek.

“This book offers a radical — but philosophically rigorous — take on contemporary debates about machine consciousness, reframing the problem through a novel inversion of the philosophical zombie (and inference to the best explanation). The ensuing treatment licences an intriguing application of precautionary ethics — a treatment that is strikingly germane to current trends in artificial intelligence research.”