iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on the framing, angle, and lens I use to address this debate. It is still a working draft, so I would love to receive feedback if anything comes to mind! #philsky #philsci #HPS #HPbio #consciousness

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

The hot topic of the day in phil of mind is a dispute between biological naturalism and computational functionalism about artificial consciousness. Building on my recent work, I'm excited to share a preprint of a paper that brings an active matter lens to the topic. philpapers.org/rec/HARPON-5

philpapers.org

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Very excited to start seeing all of this come together and interested to hear people's thoughts!

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

This paper benefited immensely from Wiktor Rorot and Urte Laukaityte, my long time collaborators on the wider project that began over 5 years ago! (And which we have another big paper in the works for... stay tuned!).

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

My argument draws on active matter physics to argue that naturalizing the goal-directedness of living systems requires greater sensitivity to the specific materials that can sustain self-organizing, far-from-equilibrium dynamics in the first place.

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

This paper is the first published step in a wider project: developing a richer, more active conception of matter to better understand how mind and purposiveness emerge in living systems, against the more passive view of matter that still shapes much of contemporary philosophy of mind and biology.

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Lastly, I also want to thank @twachter.bsky.social and @michaelgarfield.bsky.social for their invaluable input and feedback, and the @hkcrc.bsky.social and @divintelligence.bsky.social for being the hosting spaces where earlier versions of this idea were presented.

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Philosophically, I want to thank @kulveit.bsky.social and his colleagues for their work on 'gradual disempowerments' in the alignment debate. I especially am indebted to the work of @add-hawk.bsky.social whose notion of value capture is explored as one mechanism behind the RAP.

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Conceptually, this work is indebted to the work of @cwarzel.bsky.social, @chaykak.bsky.social and @karenhao.bsky.social, among many others, whose reporting deeply informed my approach to the topic of alignment.

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

The RAP is a terminological intervention and what I want to contribute to in developing this idea going forward is that alignment is instead of (or in addition to) an engineering problem of control it is also a socio-technical problem of power.

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Though this is likely whatever stage comes two stages after late-stage capitalism.

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

It feels like, at long last, the half-jocular, half-serious end point of the rhetorical question 'what stage of capitalism is this?' has finally been reached with this product. gudtrip.com

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David Jacob Harrison @davdjacobharrison.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

I explore how the value landscape to which AI is being aligned is characterized by value capture and flattening. I suggest that this 'flattening' establishes a context in which AI alignment occurs - achieving alignment in the 'reverse direction' by humans adapting to machines.

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