# Gaps

_Mykyta Zagamula; edited with AI assistance · updated 2026-09-13_

A finished system produces admirers; a visibly unfinished one produces participants. Here are the concrete open tasks from the pages of the corpus: pick one and open its context.

Corpus backlog: 52 open tasks.

## Source (8)

Technical reader. The cheapest first contribution. Someone seeing us for the first time can find the work we missed.

- Point to the works on cultural lag, metascience or complexity science worth reading first, and say what each would add here.
  → Progress as an uneven system: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/progress/#task-frame-progress-2

- The list of neighbours is almost certainly incomplete. Anticipatory governance, technology assessment and STS are missing in particular.
  → What this is not: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/not/#task-frame-not-2

- Point us to one work that grounds moral standing in interests or autonomy, and explain how far it applies to AI.
  → Can an AI have moral standing?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/ai-moral-status/#task-question-ai-moral-status-3

- Point us to one empirical study that distinguishes attraction, behaviour and self-definition, and state the limit of its application to our scenario.
  → How to describe attraction with changeable bodies?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/orientation-morphology/#task-question-orientation-morphology-3

- Point us to one work on duties towards deliberately created beings, and the relevant argument from it.
  → Should we create new intelligent beings?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/creating-minds/#task-question-creating-minds-3

- Find one primary work proposing a concrete way of representing the interests of future generations in a decision about heritable editing. Send the link and the page or section number: we will check whether it already answers the problem we named.
  → The age of our moral vocabulary: https://synchronism.top/en/research/moral-vocabulary-age/#task-case-moral-vocabulary-age-2

- Point to one existing institution that already performs part of this function, and say where its remit ends.
  → Reflexive civilization: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/reflexive/#task-concept-reflexive-1

- Point to an existing practice of publishing confidence — in forecasting, intelligence analysis or science — whose scale we could adopt rather than invent.
  → Confidence level: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/confidence/#task-concept-confidence-1

## Data (6)

Technical reader. Our quantitative claims are the weakest part. Anyone who can count may outdo us here within an hour.

- For one concrete decision, propose an observable indicator of missing understanding and a source against which it can be checked.
  → The capability–understanding gap: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/gap/#task-frame-gap-2

- This is our weakest page quantitatively. Propose a way of assembling comparable annual budgets for two fields, with a stated rule for what counts on each side.
  → Why understanding is underfunded: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/why-now/#task-frame-why-now-1

- Add one public grant or programme: the sum, the years, the purpose, the primary source. Mark whether it is a commitment or actual expenditure.
  → How far does understanding lag in funding?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/funding-asymmetry/#task-question-funding-asymmetry-1

- Describe one example of a separate legal mechanism for care or mutual obligation. Add a source and one known advantage or difficulty in applying it.
  → How should family institutions be rethought?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/marriage-architecture/#task-question-marriage-architecture-1

- Add one consciousness research grant active in 2025: a link to the funder’s record, the sum, the currency, the duration, and a note on whether it is a commitment or an actual disbursement. One verified line is enough for a first contribution.
  → The price of capability and of understanding: https://synchronism.top/en/research/ai-asymmetry/#task-case-ai-asymmetry-1

- Propose one observable indicator by which the gap could be measured in a single concrete field, and a source where that indicator can be checked.
  → Capability–Understanding Gap: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/gap/#task-concept-gap-1

## Argument (15)

Philosopher. This needs someone who can build a line of reasoning. It is the very work academic philosophy is short of.

- Take one dependency between fields and set out how its strength could be assessed without relying on intuition about importance.
  → Progress as an uneven system: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/progress/#task-frame-progress-1

- Take one question in the corpus and propose a mark by which the success of its next research step could be judged.
  → Category decomposition: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/method/#task-frame-method-1

- We name a good life as the main orientation and do not define it. Defend or attack the choice to leave it undefined at this stage.
  → What closing gaps is for: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/values/#task-frame-values-2

- Isolate one hidden premise in the move from continuity of function to continuity of experience, and say whether it can be tested independently.
  → Is non-biological consciousness possible?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/consciousness-substrate/#task-question-consciousness-substrate-2

- Propose one additional condition for a justified revision and test it on a concrete case.
  → When does a moral category stop working?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/moral-categories/#task-question-moral-categories-2

- Compare two candidate criteria of moral standing on a single example of an artificial system. Show where they give different decisions.
  → Can an AI have moral standing?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/ai-moral-status/#task-question-ai-moral-status-1

- Work through one example in which attraction to a person and attraction to bodily features give different descriptions. Explain what the distinction adds.
  → How to describe attraction with changeable bodies?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/orientation-morphology/#task-question-orientation-morphology-2

- Compare two arguments for or against creating a being who will have no others of their kind. State whether they rest on wellbeing, rights or some other ground.
  → Should we create new intelligent beings?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/creating-minds/#task-question-creating-minds-1

- Work through one choice between a more pleasant life and greater autonomy. Show which weighing rule is consistent with our values.
  → What makes a life good?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/good-life/#task-question-good-life-1

- Apply one criterion of personal identity to gradual replacement of the body. State one advantage it has and one difficulty it leaves unresolved.
  → What preserves a person through bodily change?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/identity-body/#task-question-identity-body-1

- Propose a rule for separating «building capability» from «deepening understanding». Test it on two concrete projects and explain how to count a project that does both.
  → The price of capability and of understanding: https://synchronism.top/en/research/ai-asymmetry/#task-case-ai-asymmetry-2

- Take one argument about consent to heritable genome editing. Show in a paragraph or two whether the existing principle of protecting the future child’s interests suffices for it, or whether a new concept is needed. Add the strongest objection to your own answer.
  → The age of our moral vocabulary: https://synchronism.top/en/research/moral-vocabulary-age/#task-case-moral-vocabulary-age-1

- Propose a criterion that would let two candidate bottlenecks be compared without appealing to how interesting the topic is.
  → Bottleneck: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/bottleneck/#task-concept-bottleneck-1

- Describe one case where publishing a confidence level made a claim worse rather than better, and what follows from that.
  → Epistemic humility: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/humility/#task-concept-humility-1

- Set out the cost of error in both directions — granting standing where there is none, and withholding it where there is — and what follows for decisions under uncertainty.
  → Moral circle expansion: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/moral-circle/#task-concept-moral-circle-1

## Objection (14)

Philosopher. We ask for objections separately. A position nobody has tried to break is worth nothing.

- Give one case where acting before sufficient understanding produced knowledge more cheaply and quickly than prior research would have. Explain what condition makes that case important for our frame.
  → The capability–understanding gap: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/gap/#task-frame-gap-1

- Argue the case that understanding is underfunded not because of incentives but because it does not respond to money — that funding buys compute but not conceptual breakthroughs.
  → Why understanding is underfunded: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/why-now/#task-frame-why-now-2

- Give one case where separating the features refines the concept but keeping the shared norm protects people better.
  → Category decomposition: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/method/#task-frame-method-2

- The list has no internal hierarchy: freedom and an expanding moral circle can conflict. Propose an ordering, or an argument that ordering them is a mistake.
  → What closing gaps is for: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/values/#task-frame-values-1

- Academic philosophy could reasonably reply that this is exactly what it does, and that we are simply unfamiliar with its current state. We need that reply in its strongest form.
  → Philosophy has a job again: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/philosophy/#task-frame-philosophy-1

- The most valuable thing you can write to us: «here is a tradition already doing exactly this, and you do not know about it». We will take that as a gift, not an attack.
  → What this is not: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/not/#task-frame-not-1

- Show, on one piece of research, why the main constraint lies in method, data or hypothesis rather than budget.
  → How far does understanding lag in funding?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/funding-asymmetry/#task-question-funding-asymmetry-2

- Point us to one strong version of the argument that biological properties are necessary for consciousness. State which assumption of gradual replacement it denies.
  → Is non-biological consciousness possible?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/consciousness-substrate/#task-question-consciousness-substrate-1

- Give one example where a more precise description of the morally significant property leads to a worse general rule.
  → When does a moral category stop working?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/moral-categories/#task-question-moral-categories-1

- Name one assumption of the scenario that could sever it from the experience of real people. Propose how to restate it.
  → How to describe attraction with changeable bodies?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/orientation-morphology/#task-question-orientation-morphology-1

- Take one research task from the experiment cited and explain what actually constrains the next step: money, method or access to data. One argument with a reference to the relevant passage is enough.
  → The price of capability and of understanding: https://synchronism.top/en/research/ai-asymmetry/#task-case-ai-asymmetry-3

- Give one case where acting before sufficient understanding produced knowledge faster and cheaper than prior research would have. Say what makes that case relevant to our frame.
  → Civilizational debt: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/debt/#task-concept-debt-1

- Give one case where separating the features refines the concept but keeping the shared norm protects people better.
  → Category decomposition: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/decomposition/#task-concept-decomposition-1

- Give one case where keeping options open was itself the costly choice, and what that implies for the value as stated.
  → Open future: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/open-future/#task-concept-open-future-1

## Question (9)

Generalist. Anyone with a broad view can see a gap we did not. It is the most valuable contribution and the easiest one.

- What concretely do we offer a person with philosophical training besides recognition? Without an answer the appeal stays rhetoric.
  → Philosophy has a job again: https://synchronism.top/en/frame/philosophy/#task-frame-philosophy-2

- Formulate one question about protecting a child when the structure of adult relationships changes. State whose interests may conflict.
  → How should family institutions be rethought?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/marriage-architecture/#task-question-marriage-architecture-2

- Formulate one concrete action towards an artificial system whose rightness would change depending on how its experience is assessed.
  → Can an AI have moral standing?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/ai-moral-status/#task-question-ai-moral-status-2

- Propose one question about the procedure for representing the future being’s interests, and explain which decision depends on it.
  → Should we create new intelligent beings?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/creating-minds/#task-question-creating-minds-2

- Propose one case in which radical life extension changes the assessment of a life’s quality, and formulate a research question from it.
  → What makes a life good?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/good-life/#task-question-good-life-2

- Formulate a separate question about one obligation in a branching scenario: responsibility, contract or inheritance.
  → What preserves a person through bodily change?: https://synchronism.top/en/questions/identity-body/#task-question-identity-body-2

- Name one field where you would expect the movement’s frame to fail, and say what would make that failure visible.
  → Civilizational Synchronism: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/synchronism/#task-concept-synchronism-1

- Which single function of such a system could be tested on a small scale first, and what would count as evidence that it works?
  → Metasystem of progress: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/metasystem/#task-concept-metasystem-1

- What would make participation worth someone’s time at this stage, beyond having their name on a page?
  → Synchronist: https://synchronism.top/en/glossary/synchronist/#task-concept-synchronist-1

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Canonical page: https://synchronism.top/en/holes/
Take part: https://synchronism.top/en/work/