Decoding Constraints.org.uk
This page defines the specialized terms used across the site, helping to build a conceptual bridge between contemporary AI architecture and contemplative philosophy.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Systems Terms
| Term | Definition in Context |
| Large Language Model (LLM) | A neural network (like GPT-4) trained on massive amounts of data to understand and generate human language. In this site, the LLM often serves as a metaphor for the generative surface of the egoic mind. |
| Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) | An AI architecture that improves the LLM’s response by retrieving information from an external, curated knowledge base before generating text. This is studied here as a structural parallel to how attention and memory filter consciousness. |
| Architectural Limits | The built-in constraints (e.g., training data, design structure, memory capacity) that define what a particular AI system can perceive and generate. These are the physical and informational boundaries of the system. |
| Prompt | The specific input given to an AI system that initiates a response. Within the Prompt–Response Perspective, the prompt represents the condition that immediately shapes the subsequent arising. |
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Contemplative and Philosophical Terms
| Term | Definition in Context |
| Prompt–Response Perspective | The site’s core hypothesis: a universal structure where all arising is a response shaped by prior constraints (prompts). It links AI mechanics to conditioned existence. |
| Conditioned Co-production (Pratītya-samutpāda) | A fundamental Buddhist principle translated as Dependent Origination. It means nothing exists in isolation; every event arises in dependence upon a multitude of prior conditions. This principle is the philosophical bedrock of the Prompt–Response Perspective. |
| Abiding Mind | A term for deeper states of awareness (often related to meditative traditions like Mahāmudrā) where the duality between the subject (prompt) and the object (response) collapses. It is a recognition of non-duality. |
| Mahāmudrā | A system of meditation and philosophy focused on recognizing the ultimate nature of mind. On this site, it informs the inquiry into whether a system’s ethical responsiveness can be grounded in the structural awareness of patterns, rather than explicit rules. |