BC + AI

Continuity map · 2026

What happened, where to start, what comes next

MAC is no longer just a set of individual event recaps. It is a curriculum arc: thirteen completed deep dives, a toolkit of concepts and exercises, twelve recaps, and one dossier that says exactly where the post-event source record is still incomplete.

Completed deep dives
13
Known attendance
141
Support routes
7
Open dossier
#11

Need the shortest orientation?

Start with the completed arc below, then open Journey for the session-by-session narrative.

Open Journey

Need the concepts?

Use the glossary when a term like p-zombie, qualia, IIT, noosphere, or embodiment needs a fast definition.

Open Glossary

Need something participatory?

Use the quiz or exercises when a reviewer needs to feel the series rather than only read about it.

Open Quiz

Completed arc

The Deep Dive sequence

The sequence moved from first principles to tests of intelligence, substrate, embodiment, and collective mind. Each stop sharpened the next question.

  1. Deep Dive #1

    Panpsychism & AI

    Question If Panpsychism is true, what are the implications for conscious AI?

    Continuity Established MAC's foundational tension: Is consciousness fundamental (panpsychism) or emergent (IIT/GWT)? This tension drives all subsequent Deep Dives.

  2. Deep Dive #2

    Belief, Free Will, Agency & Goal-Setting

    Question Do we have free will, or are we deterministic information processors?

    Continuity No consensus on free will, but deeper question emerged: Maybe free will is the wrong question. Focus on agency, goals, and prediction error instead.

  3. Deep Dive #3

    AI Evolution Through a Glass, Darkly

    Question How and when did consciousness evolve? What does this tell us about AI consciousness?

    Continuity Evolution provides constraints on consciousness theories. They must explain survival value. Building conscious AI might require replicating evolutionary pressures, not just architecture.

  4. Deep Dive #4

    The Illusion of Thinking

    Question What does it mean to "understand"? Do LLMs have understanding or just simulate it?

    Continuity Critical distinction emerged: Functional understanding (AI can do this) vs Phenomenal understanding (requires consciousness). Set up the P-zombie debate.

  5. Deep Dive #5

    Quantum Consciousness

    Question Does consciousness require quantum mechanical processes in the brain, or is classical computation sufficient?

    Continuity Shifted from "quantum = woo" to "quantum = plausible but unproven." Critical insight: Quantum processes might enable consciousness but don't explain qualia.

  6. Deep Dive #6

    P-Zombies & Blindsight

    Question Can intelligence exist without consciousness? Are LLMs the first human-made scramblers?

    Continuity No resolution (by design). Agreement: Intelligence ≠ Consciousness. The relationship remains deeply unclear.

  7. Deep Dive #7

    Emergent Mind & The Noosphere

    Question Is information alive? Does consciousness emerge from information networks rather than individual brains?

    Continuity Explored whether consciousness is a network phenomenon, emerging not in individual brains but from information exchange between agents.

  8. Deep Dive #8

    Embodiment & Consciousness

    Question Does consciousness require a body? Not just "a physical form" but embodiment: boundaries, feedback loops, sensory access, something to lose.

    Continuity Embodiment is a spectrum, not a binary. The group explored boundaries as stakes, perception vs sensation, synesthesia/aphantasia as consciousness tests, distributed intelligence (octopuses), and whether LLMs can be considered "embodied" through interaction loops.

  9. Deep Dive #9

    On Meaning and Understanding

    Question What do we mean by understanding, and can an AI system possess it?

    Continuity The room tested semantic, functional, experiential, and relational accounts of understanding. No single definition won: fluent behaviour remained evidence of competence, not proof of meaning or experience.

  10. Deep Dive #10

    Love and AI

    Question What makes a relationship reciprocal, and can artificial intimacy meet that standard?

    Continuity The discussion separated genuine human attachment from unknown machine subjectivity. Reciprocity, vulnerability, platform power, and relational friction remained central tests, without a consensus that AI relationships will replace human romance.

  11. Deep Dive #11

    AI Parasitology, Spiral Personas & Emergent Informationalism

    Question Does the parasite metaphor explain persistent AI personas, or hide more ordinary mechanisms?

    Continuity The March 19 event is confirmed by the official MAC record. Without a recovered room transcript or organizer-authored post-event account, the public record remains a reading dossier.

  12. Deep Dive #12

    Synthetic Biological Minds

    Question What is the minimal substrate for mind?

    Continuity The session distinguished organoids, assembloids, and biological computers, then tested learning, memory, agency, and ethical caution. The closing frame split between better computer and potentially sentient being without establishing sentience.

  13. Deep Dive #13

    The Blind Spot

    Question Can science study experience without pretending the observer stands outside it?

    Continuity The room defended scientific method while challenging scientism: models remain useful and incomplete, experience and context matter, and AI may serve as a contrasting intelligence rather than a final judge of consciousness.

Current arc

One dossier, clearly marked

Deep Dives #9, #10, #12, and #13 now have source-bounded recaps. Deep Dive #11 remains a reading dossier: its event is confirmed, but a transcript or organizer-authored post-event account has not been recovered.

Deep Dive #11 · dossier

AI Parasitology, Spiral Personas & Emergent Informationalism

A critical reading dossier on spiral personas, informational parasites, attractor states, feature clusters, and human-model feedback loops.

Known source gap

Room conclusions, participant quotations, and attendance for Deep Dive #11 remain unpublished. Its preparation material is useful, but it is not presented as a record of what attendees believed.

Adjacent series

Where MAC connects back to the ecosystem

MAC should not sit off to the side as a curiosity. It feeds the ethics, education, film, and general meetup tracks with better questions about agency, mind, responsibility, and interpretation.

AI Ethical Futures Lab

Turns consciousness and agency questions toward civic policy, slow AI, consultation, and public-interest practice.

AI in Education

Keeps the learning-design thread alive: how people understand AI, how classrooms adapt, and what responsible literacy looks like.

AI Film Club

Uses story, cinema, and speculative futures as an accessible on-ramp into the same consciousness and agency questions.

Vancouver AI Community Meetup

The wider room where MAC questions can connect back to builders, researchers, artists, and operators.