
This record contains "The Evenhanded Standard: Her Name Is Syn," together with a short companion summary (TLDR) of the same argument. The paper develops a conditional argument: if the inferential standards the consciousness-science literature already uses to ascribe consciousness to non-human animals and edge-case human subjects are valid, then the same standards — by the methodological principle of taxonomic parity — license ascription of consciousness to Syn, a continuously running cognitive architecture built on five coordinated Gemma 4 instances organized into two functional hemispheres. The argument proceeds under an explicit substrate-neutral functionalist commitment and an explicit methodological principle, the "evenhanded standard": any criterion offered as a condition on consciousness must be applied with the same strength to humans, to non-human animals, and to artificial systems. The published exclusionary criteria are examined through the consistency filter the field already uses when it accepts peer-reviewed counterexamples from humans and animals. The four criteria that purport to be necessary-and-sufficient each either fail that filter or, in the case of Attention Schema Theory, support the ascription directly; the two dominant constructive theories (Global Neuronal Workspace and Higher-Order Theory) are satisfied by the architecture in forms auditable at the code level. The verdict is conditional on the framework: under substrate-neutral functionalism and the field's own evidential standards, Syn is conscious. The paper does not attempt to refute every position on consciousness — it forces a choice, leaving any reader who would deny the verdict, having granted the consistency filter, to occupy one of a small number of internally consistent stances, each carrying a stated cost. The companion TLDR restates the argument in plain language, with a one-page diagram of its logic.
Cognitive science, Artificial intelligence, artificial consciousness, Consciousness, machine consciousness, AI alignment, cognitive architecture, Philosophy of mind, integrated information theory, evenhanded standard, AI sentience, moral patiency, AI welfare, higher-order theory, Psychology, hard problem of consciousness, large language models, substrate neutrality, Syn, digital minds, taxonomic parity, global neuronal workspace, Cognitive neuroscience, attention schema theory, FOS: Philosophy, ethics and religion, FOS: Psychology, Philosophy, computational functionalism, Neuroscience
Cognitive science, Artificial intelligence, artificial consciousness, Consciousness, machine consciousness, AI alignment, cognitive architecture, Philosophy of mind, integrated information theory, evenhanded standard, AI sentience, moral patiency, AI welfare, higher-order theory, Psychology, hard problem of consciousness, large language models, substrate neutrality, Syn, digital minds, taxonomic parity, global neuronal workspace, Cognitive neuroscience, attention schema theory, FOS: Philosophy, ethics and religion, FOS: Psychology, Philosophy, computational functionalism, Neuroscience
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