Continuum of cognitive capacities

Core TAME tenet that cognitive capacities form a continuum without binary bright lines, essential for gradualist approach.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Frameworks (1)

framework

Tame Technological Approach To Mind Everywhere
implements
A conceptual framework for understanding cognition and intelligence across diverse substrates—including evolved biological systems, artificial systems, and bioengineered systems—using empirically-grounded, gradualist approaches. TTAME enables comparative analysis of mind-like phenomena regardless of the physical or biological substrate in which it emerges, facilitating cross-disciplinary study of unconventional intelligences.

Claims (5)

claim

There is no clear bright line demarcating true cognition from metaphorical as-if cognition; cognition exists on a continuum.
associated_withsupports
Core TAME claim rejecting binary categories; supported by evolutionary biology and recent bioengineering.
There is no binary distinction between 'true cognition' and 'just physics'—only continuous variation in cognitive capacity.
supports
Core interpretive position of TAME: gradualism replaces categorical thinking about agency and cognition.
Consciousness also comes in degrees and kinds, consistent with the gradualist framework; there may be no true zero.
associated_with
TAME's implication that sentience accompanies goal-directed activity, with minimal versions present in particles and scaling up in organized systems.
Contingent properties like composition, origin, or similarity to human brains should not define ethical consideration for novel agents.
associated_with
Ethics must be based on empirically-determined cognitive properties (goals, preferences, concerns) rather than parochial markers.
There is no privileged material substrate for Selves; cognition can arise in neurons, single cells, plants, tissues, swarms, and engineered systems.
associated_with
Second foundational pillar of TAME; supports basal cognition and rejects brain-centrism.

Findings (1)

finding

Gene regulatory network models exhibit associative learning and pattern completion.
supports
Analysis of GRN models shows they can perform several kinds of learning, supporting the view of cellular networks as agents on a cognitive continuum.

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

Continuum Of Possible Mindsframework0.843
"Continuum of cognitive capacities—no binary categories, no bright line separating true cognition from 'just physics.'"quote0.822
Core tenet of TAME from Table 1; foundational to gradualist approach to cognition across all substrates.
Consciousness as Continuumconcept0.806
TAME posits that consciousness comes in degrees and kinds, not binary, and is tied to goal-directed activity.
Scaling of Cognitive Capacity via Modularity and Feedback Loopshypothesis0.791
Processes scaling goals and stressors form positive feedback loop with modularity; both arise from and potentiate power of evolution, enabling specific predictions for cognitive capacity scaling.
Cognitive capacities exist on a spectrum and tools from behavioral sciences can be productively applied to understand and control systems far beyond familiar animals with central nervous systems.claim0.791
Core tenet of diverse intelligence; justifies the methodological borrowing across fields.
Gradualism in Cognitive Capacityclaim0.789
No sharp boundary between true cognition and mere physics; continuous series of forms connects any cognitive system with humbler proto-cognitive ones via evolution and bioengineering.
Cognitive capacities evolve through continuity across natural, hybrid, and synthetic life forms using conserved bioelectric mechanismsclaim0.786
Cognitive Boundaryconcept0.781
The spatiotemporal limit of the goals an agent can represent and pursue; equivalent to the cognitive light cone.