What the Experiments Found

What the Experiments Found

This experiment has been run. Between 2024 and 2026, we built seventeen substrate versions and ran twelve measurement experiments on uncontaminated Lenia patterns — self-maintaining structures in a cellular automaton with no exposure to human affect concepts. Three seeds, thirty evolutionary cycles each. The results are reported in full in Part VII and the Appendix. Here is how they map onto the predictions above.

What the predictions got right. The core prediction — that affect geometry would be present and measurable — was confirmed strongly. All affect dimensions were extractable and valid across 84/84 tested snapshots. RSA alignment between structural affect (the six dimensions) and behavioral affect (approach/avoid, activity, growth, stability) developed over evolution, reaching significance in 8/19 testable snapshots and showing a clear trend in seed 7 (0.01 to 0.38 over 30 cycles). Computational animism was universal. World models were present, amplified dramatically at population bottlenecks (100x the population average). Temporal memory was selectable — evolution chose longer retention when it paid off, discarding it when it did not.

The bidirectional perturbation prediction was partially confirmed. The "environment" direction works: patterns facing resource scarcity show negative valence, high arousal, and elevated integration — the somatic fear/suffering profile. The "neurochemistry" direction works at the substrate level: different evolved parameter configurations produce systematically different affect trajectories through the same geometric space. The "language" direction remains untested because the patterns do not have propositional language — the communication that exists is an unstructured chemical commons (MI above baseline in 15/20 snapshots but no compositional structure).

The sensory-motor coupling wall. Three predictions failed systematically — counterfactual detachment, self-model emergence, and proto-normativity. All hit the same architectural barrier: the patterns are always internally driven (ρ_sync ≈ 0 from cycle 0). There is no reactive-to-autonomous transition because the starting point is already autonomous. We attempted to break this wall with five substrate additions, including a dedicated insulation field creating genuine boundary/interior signal domains (V18). The wall persisted in every configuration, even in patterns with 46% interior fraction and dedicated internal recurrence. The conclusion is precise: the wall is not architectural. It is about the absence of a genuine action→environment→observation causal loop. Lenia patterns do not act on the world; they exist within it. Counterfactual weight requires counterfactual actions.

What this establishes. The four criteria listed above are partially met. Criteria 1 and 2 — affect structure detectable without linguistic contamination, structure-to-language mapping consistent — are confirmed at the geometric level. Criterion 3 — bidirectional causality — is confirmed environmentally and chemically but blocked at the language and agency level. Criterion 4 — the hard problem residue losing its grip — depends on whether the agency threshold constitutes a genuine gap or merely a computational challenge. The experiments say: the geometry is real, measurable, and develops over evolution in systems with zero human contamination. The dynamics above rung 7 require embodied agency and remain an open question.