Gaps

Point to the works on cultural lag, metascience or complexity science worth reading first, and say what each would add here.

IdeaProgress as an uneven system

The list of neighbours is almost certainly incomplete. Anticipatory governance, technology assessment and STS are missing in particular.

IdeaWhat this is not

Point us to one work that grounds moral standing in interests or autonomy, and explain how far it applies to AI.

QuestionCan an AI have moral standing?

Point us to one empirical study that distinguishes attraction, behaviour and self-definition, and state the limit of its application to our scenario.

QuestionHow to describe attraction with changeable bodies?

Point us to one work on duties towards deliberately created beings, and the relevant argument from it.

QuestionShould we create new intelligent beings?

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.

CaseThe age of our moral vocabulary

Point to one existing institution that already performs part of this function, and say where its remit ends.

ConceptReflexive civilization

Point to an existing practice of publishing confidence — in forecasting, intelligence analysis or science — whose scale we could adopt rather than invent.

ConceptConfidence level

For one concrete decision, propose an observable indicator of missing understanding and a source against which it can be checked.

IdeaThe capability–understanding gap

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.

IdeaWhy understanding is underfunded

Add one public grant or programme: the sum, the years, the purpose, the primary source. Mark whether it is a commitment or actual expenditure.

QuestionHow far does understanding lag in funding?

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.

QuestionHow should family institutions be rethought?

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.

CaseThe price of capability and of understanding

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.

ConceptCapability–Understanding Gap

Take one dependency between fields and set out how its strength could be assessed without relying on intuition about importance.

IdeaProgress as an uneven system

Take one question in the corpus and propose a mark by which the success of its next research step could be judged.

IdeaCategory decomposition

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.

IdeaWhat closing gaps is for

Isolate one hidden premise in the move from continuity of function to continuity of experience, and say whether it can be tested independently.

QuestionIs non-biological consciousness possible?

Propose one additional condition for a justified revision and test it on a concrete case.

QuestionWhen does a moral category stop working?

Compare two candidate criteria of moral standing on a single example of an artificial system. Show where they give different decisions.

QuestionCan an AI have moral standing?

Work through one example in which attraction to a person and attraction to bodily features give different descriptions. Explain what the distinction adds.

QuestionHow to describe attraction with changeable bodies?

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.

QuestionShould we create new intelligent beings?

Work through one choice between a more pleasant life and greater autonomy. Show which weighing rule is consistent with our values.

QuestionWhat makes a life good?

Apply one criterion of personal identity to gradual replacement of the body. State one advantage it has and one difficulty it leaves unresolved.

QuestionWhat preserves a person through bodily change?

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.

CaseThe price of capability and of understanding

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.

CaseThe age of our moral vocabulary

Propose a criterion that would let two candidate bottlenecks be compared without appealing to how interesting the topic is.

ConceptBottleneck

Describe one case where publishing a confidence level made a claim worse rather than better, and what follows from that.

ConceptEpistemic humility

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.

ConceptMoral circle expansion

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.

IdeaThe capability–understanding gap

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.

IdeaWhy understanding is underfunded

Give one case where separating the features refines the concept but keeping the shared norm protects people better.

IdeaCategory decomposition

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.

IdeaWhat closing gaps is for

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.

IdeaPhilosophy has a job again

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.

IdeaWhat this is not

Show, on one piece of research, why the main constraint lies in method, data or hypothesis rather than budget.

QuestionHow far does understanding lag in funding?

Point us to one strong version of the argument that biological properties are necessary for consciousness. State which assumption of gradual replacement it denies.

QuestionIs non-biological consciousness possible?

Give one example where a more precise description of the morally significant property leads to a worse general rule.

QuestionWhen does a moral category stop working?

Name one assumption of the scenario that could sever it from the experience of real people. Propose how to restate it.

QuestionHow to describe attraction with changeable bodies?

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.

CaseThe price of capability and of understanding

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.

ConceptCivilizational debt

Give one case where separating the features refines the concept but keeping the shared norm protects people better.

ConceptCategory decomposition

Give one case where keeping options open was itself the costly choice, and what that implies for the value as stated.

ConceptOpen future

What concretely do we offer a person with philosophical training besides recognition? Without an answer the appeal stays rhetoric.

IdeaPhilosophy has a job again

Formulate one question about protecting a child when the structure of adult relationships changes. State whose interests may conflict.

QuestionHow should family institutions be rethought?

Formulate one concrete action towards an artificial system whose rightness would change depending on how its experience is assessed.

QuestionCan an AI have moral standing?

Propose one question about the procedure for representing the future being’s interests, and explain which decision depends on it.

QuestionShould we create new intelligent beings?

Propose one case in which radical life extension changes the assessment of a life’s quality, and formulate a research question from it.

QuestionWhat makes a life good?

Formulate a separate question about one obligation in a branching scenario: responsibility, contract or inheritance.

QuestionWhat preserves a person through bodily change?

Name one field where you would expect the movement’s frame to fail, and say what would make that failure visible.

ConceptCivilizational Synchronism

Which single function of such a system could be tested on a small scale first, and what would count as evidence that it works?

ConceptMetasystem of progress

What would make participation worth someone’s time at this stage, beyond having their name on a page?

ConceptSynchronist