# Computational Dualism and Objective Superintelligence

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.00843 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00843/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 29 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 2 Feb 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [The Forward-Forward Algorithm: Some Preliminary Investigations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.13345/) (2022)
- [Bad Universal Priors and Notions of Optimality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1510.04931/) (2015)
- [The Optimal Choice of Hypothesis Is the Weakest, Not the Shortest](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.12987/) (2023)
- [Symbol Emergence and The Solutions to Any Task](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.01281/) (2021)
- [Compression, The Fermi Paradox and Artificial Super-Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.01835/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Emergent Causality and the Foundation of Consciousness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.03189/) (2023)
- [On the Computation of Meaning, Language Models and Incomprehensible Horrors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.12686/) (2023)
- [Is Complexity an Illusion?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.07227/) (2024)
- [Agent Identity Evals: Measuring Agentic Identity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.17257/) (2025)
- [Why Is Anything Conscious?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.14545/) (2024)
- [Artificial Consciousness as Interface Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.04383/) (2025)
- [Deconstructing Superintelligence: Identity, Self-Modification and Diff'erance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.19845/) (2026)
- [What the F*ck Is Artificial General Intelligence?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.23923/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The concept of intelligent software is flawed. The behaviour of software is determined by the hardware that "interprets" it. This undermines claims regarding the behaviour of theorised, software superintelligence. Here we characterise this problem as "computational dualism", where instead of mental and physical substance, we have software and hardware. We argue that to make objective claims regarding performance we must avoid computational dualism. We propose a pancomputational alternative wherein every aspect of the environment is a relation between irreducible states. We formalise systems as behaviour (inputs and outputs), and cognition as embodied, embedded, extended and enactive. The result is cognition formalised as a part of the environment, rather than as a disembodied policy interacting with the environment through an interpreter. This allows us to make objective claims regarding intelligence, which we argue is the ability to "generalise", identify causes and adapt. We then establish objective upper bounds for intelligent behaviour. This suggests AGI will be safer, but more limited, than theorised.