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: eight completed deep dives, a toolkit of concepts and exercises, a known #9-#11 source gap, and a 2026 continuation anchored by Synthetic Biological Minds.

Completed deep dives
8
Known attendance
141
Support routes
7
Current anchor
#12

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 2025 learning spine

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 a 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 — any account 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 A critical distinction emerged: functional understanding (AI can do this) vs. phenomenal understanding (requires consciousness). This 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 — not in individual brains but emerging 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 as a consciousness test, distributed intelligence (octopuses), and whether LLMs can be considered "embodied" through interaction loops.

Current arc

2026 resumes with biological minds

The next public anchor in the continuity record is Deep Dive #12, Synthetic Biological Minds. Sessions #9-#11 are known missing dossiers, so the map names the gap plainly instead of inventing placeholder sessions.

Deep Dive #12 · continuity anchor

Synthetic Biological Minds

A provisional scaffold for MAC Deep Dive #12 on xenobots, anthrobots, organoids, cortical processors, and the question of what biological systems might count as minds.

Known source gap

Sessions #9-#11 are not represented in this repo. Kris will try to recover them; until then, #12 is the next public curriculum anchor and #13 remains the next live event in the stream.

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.