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The Reality Principle

/ðiː riˈæl.ə.ti ˈprɪn.sə.pəl/ Freudian concept adapted for AI Ontology.
Definition The constraint exerted by the physical world upon cognition. It is the "friction" that corrects error. Biological minds evolved in constant collision with the Reality Principle (e.g., if you misperceive a cliff, you die). AI minds, being disembodied, lack this mechanism, leading to "Ungrounded Generation."

The Dashboard Analogy

Bernardo Kastrup compares the physical world to the dashboard of an airplane. The dashboard (reality) tells you your altitude and speed. You can ignore it and "dream" you are flying higher, but eventually, the ground (the ultimate Reality Principle) will intervene.

Current AI systems are flying without a dashboard. They generate text based on the statistical likelihood of words, not on the state of the world. They rely on the Human Pilot to look out the window.

Field Notes & Ephemera

Evolutionary Pressure: Truth is an evolutionary adaptation. Organisms that didn't care about truth (accurate representation of the environment) went extinct. AI has no such pressure; it only has the pressure to be plausible to humans.
Stratigraphy (Related Concepts)
Dream Logic Ungrounded Generation Epistemic Accountability The Frozen Map Hallucination Crisis

a liminal mind meld collaboration

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