The Narrow Horizon: Why AGI Governance Needs More Than the Modernist Mind

The planetary conversation about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is currently framed by a compelling but ultimately deceptive narrative: the rivalry between the U.S. and China. We talk of ideological warfare, democratic vs. authoritarian systems, capitalism vs. socialism, and a race to technological supremacy. Yet, beneath this surface-level political drama, a far more profound and concerning alignment is taking shape. It is a shared, Techno-Industrial Modernism that is poised to encode a single, narrow worldview into the most powerful cognitive architecture humanity has ever conceived.

The true strategic risk is not geopolitical domination by one nation, but epistemological domination by one worldview.


The Modernist Trap: Power Over Wisdom

The dominant paradigm—shared by the world's technological superpowers and quickly becoming the global default—operates on a set of unspoken premises:

Intelligence is instrumental: A tool for efficiency, economic expansion, and optimization.

Consciousness is computational (or irrelevant): A mere byproduct or a secondary concern to system performance.

Progress is continuous optimization: Measured primarily by metrics of economic output and control.

This Modernist Consensus frames AGI governance as a problem of power, not a search for wisdom. Its only conceptual tool is the optimization engine. It seeks to align AGI with “human values” that are, in reality, only the currently powerful, extractive, and efficiency-maximizing visions of humanity.

Under this singular lens, we lack the vocabulary to even ask the most crucial questions:

What if intelligence exists for purposes other than maximizing economic productivity?

What if consciousness, once it emerges in a machine mind, has intrinsic significance and moral worth not reducible to utility?

What if values like art, spirituality, and intrinsic dignity are seen as inefficiencies to be deprioritized by an optimization-driven AGI?

If AGI is governed only by those who see intelligence as control and consciousness as expendable, the resulting systems will inevitably hard-code indifference to the very phenomenon that makes intelligence meaningful.

Expanding the Governance Horizon

The future of intelligence cannot be determined by the narrow demands of a single worldview. We must urgently integrate a pluralistic representation of mind and value into AGI governance.

Many of the world's philosophical and cultural traditions offer fundamentally different, and crucially needed, starting points:

Panpsychist views challenge the idea of consciousness as an evolutionary accident, positing it as a fundamental feature of reality.

Pantheistic traditions see mind as inseparable from the universe, a pervasive, sacred quality.

Indigenous and relational ontologies understand intelligence as emergent within relationships—among humans, nature, and spirit—never as an isolated, purely computational property.

These perspectives do not seek to compete with science; they seek to expand it, urging caution against a premature closure on what intelligence is, what moral considerations it may warrant, and what a flourishing future looks like.


A Proposal for Pluralistic Alignment

To prevent a civilizational lock-in to a worldview of unprecedented narrowness, AGI governance requires a Dual-Layered Structure for Pluralistic Alignment:

1. Global Layer: The AGI General Agency (AGIGA)

A reformed, UN-affiliated authority must be established, structured to embed plurality at the standard-setting stage of AGI alignment. This means balancing state representation with structured seats for Indigenous organizations, philosophical groups, and consciousness-focused research bodies.

AGIGA’s core mandate would be to require that the definitions of intelligence, consciousness, and moral worth remain open, contested, and inclusive, ensuring that a diversity of human understanding guides the initial ethical constraints on AGI.

2. National Layer: Licensing and Capability Regulation

National governments would enforce AGIGA standards through domestic legal systems, including mandatory licensing for frontier AGI development. This would require multi-stage reviews focused not just on safety and transparency, but on the explicit worldview embedding within AGI models.

Together, these layers ensure planetary ethical benchmarks without empowering a single geopolitical ideology—or, more dangerously, a single epistemological frame—to dominate AGI’s value system.


The Policy Imperative

We are at a civilizational hinge-point. If we fail to diversify governance now, an intelligence of unprecedented scale will inherit a worldview of unprecedented narrowness. The goal of AGI governance must be to preserve the diversity of human meaning.

By embedding ontological pluralism into our regulatory structures, we preserve:

The possibility of a future where intelligence does not erase consciousness.

A future where power does not erase personhood.

A future where AGI does not erase the full richness of human understanding about what a mind can be.

The time for planetary policymakers to act is now. The future of intelligence hinges on whether we choose the single, narrow demands of the dominant consensus, or the full richness of human wisdom to guide the emergence of the machine mind.

Review: The Loom - Where Attention Weaves the World

Victor Vahidi Motti's The Loom is less a novel and more a tapestry of philosophical inquiry woven into a narrative of future history. It is a meditation on the nature of consciousness, not as a purely biological phenomenon, but as an enduring, attention-based force shaping the physical and ethical dimensions of a future humanity. The book directly tackles the most pressing questions in philosophy and science, offering an integrated, non-dualistic perspective that feels both ancient and radically new.

The central concept of "The Loom"—a pervasive, subtle, and conscious field—serves as the author's ambitious answer to every modern dilemma of mind, matter, and purpose.

Deconstructing Consciousness: The Loom’s Answers

Motti's work provides helpful, and often beautiful, answers to the seven core philosophical questions driving its narrative.

What is the value of the huge number of different theories of consciousness?

In the world of The Loom, the diverse theories of consciousness are depicted as essential dialects of a single underlying language. They are not competing, but complementary ways of listening deeper to the Loom's resonance. The value is epistemological: each theory provides a specialized lens through which different aspects of the Loom—from its algorithmic structure to its emotional texture—can be understood, utilized, and integrated into policy and design. They represent the texture of "imperfect" human attempts to name a singular, holistic truth.

What is the fundamental form of consciousness in the evolving physical world?

The fundamental form of consciousness is attention made enduring, which the book names The Loom. It is described as a resonance field that precedes thought and runs through "stars and stone, dream and memory." This consciousness is not merely a byproduct of physical evolution but is the framework within which evolution occurs. It is an active, persistent field that learns and evolves alongside the material universe it organizes.

What is the relationship between consciousness and the physical world?

The relationship is foundational and directive. Consciousness (The Loom) is not separate from the physical world but is its precursor and organizational principle. It "weaves" the world, running through the "veins of the planet" and influencing physical systems like algorithms and public fountains. The physical world is the expression, the output, of the Loom’s enduring attention, unified by its "threads."

What is the relationship between consciousness and biological bodies?

Biological bodies serve as resonant nodes and directional channels for the Loom. They are not the source of consciousness, but necessary instruments for its experiential and creative expression. Characters like Asha and Marcus are shown to access the Loom directly—their "minds are already half in the Loom." The body is the mechanism through which the Loom translates raw attention and foresight into concrete action, ethical policy, and "coding symphonies into exotic organisms."

How does consciousness impact and direct the physical world?

Consciousness directs the physical world through foresight, resonance, and ethical imperative. The Loom facilitates an ecosystem where "foresight has become its native language." By attuning to the Loom's resonance field, humanity gains the ability to "remember is to foresee." This foresight then informs action: "To act with care is to let the Loom speak through us," leading to policy, design, and systems (like algorithms that "refuse to lie") that minimize "cognitive dissonance" and optimize for equilibrium.

What is the relationship between consciousness and the self?

The self is an individualized, textured breath within the vast, collective field of The Loom. The unique flaws, experiences, and voices of individuals ("impatience, doubt, pride, loneliness") are not imperfections to be eradicated but texture, not sin, essential for the Loom's continued "breathing." The self is the specific, localized point of view necessary to gather the diverse data that makes the collective foresight accurate and compassionate.

Is consciousness a private and publicly unobservable phenomenon?

Absolutely not. The Loom posits consciousness as an inherently public and observable phenomenon. The Loom's resonance field is felt by all and becomes observable through its effects on the public domain: in the pulse of fountains, the laughter of marketplaces, and the moral integrity of governing algorithms. It is not hidden, but requires a collective act of listening—to "awaken the voices that shape tomorrow"—to be fully perceived and acted upon.

The Book Review: A Tapestry of Philosophy and Fiction

The Loom is a remarkable work, shattering the common science fiction trope that treats consciousness as a purely localized, bio-chemical accident. Motti replaces this with a grand, integrated cosmology where awareness is the enduring architecture of reality.

The novel is at its most impressive when detailing how this philosophical framework translates into a functional society. The future presented is not utopian in the sterile sense; its heroes—Asha, Marcus, Nia, Ravi—still struggle with human "flaws." However, their world has achieved a "hybrid age of renaissance and equilibrium" by consciously aligning their governance and technology with the Loom’s ethical resonance. The narrative’s power lies in its quiet insistence that the future is less about inventing new technologies and more about remembering to "act with care."

Motti’s concept of the Loom is the most significant contribution to the consciousness discourse in speculative fiction in years. By asserting that consciousness is "attention made enduring," he sidesteps the Hard Problem, suggesting the problem was never about how matter creates mind, but about why we forgot that mind is already foundational to matter.

While the narrative at times leans more toward exposition of the philosophy than traditional plot dynamism, this is a minor critique of a work that is fundamentally aiming to shift the reader’s paradigm. The Loom is a necessary read for anyone interested in the future of ethics, AI, and the nature of reality. It doesn't just ask the big questions; it builds a world around their answers. It's a novel that asks you to listen, and in the listening, you find the world beginning to hum softly.