The Path to Emulating the Mind

Seven phases from perception to consciousness.

We do not believe that a connectomics approach to mind emulation is the best path forward. Instead, we believe that mirroring the systems of the human mind in increasingly high fidelity — like Stable Diffusion coalesces around a generated image — is the best path forward. To do this, we create analogous translations from wetware to software, and have begun implementing this in our product.

Engineering – Achievable with current + emerging technology
Research – Requires R&D breakthroughs
Unknown – We don't know if this is possible but we will figure it out

Phase 1 — Perception (Engineering)

Capturing the world across every modality. Vision, hearing, text, and digital activity — turned into structured data.

Screenshot capture + LLM vision (Complete): Visual scene understanding from screen captures
Audio recording + transcription (Complete): WhisperX-powered speech-to-text
Text extraction (accessibility API) (Complete): Structured text from OS accessibility tree
External data connectors (Complete): iMessage, email, calendar, and other data source ingestion
Cross-modal integration (Complete): Connecting what you see, hear, and read into one unified understanding
Richer contextual metadata (Planned): Location, app context, and activity tagging

Phase 2 — Memory (Engineering)

Encoding, storing, and organizing experiences. Four memory systems: working, episodic, semantic, and procedural.

Working memory (context buffer) (Complete): 15-minute sliding window of active context
Episodic memory (Complete): Timestamped multi-modal capture in PostgreSQL + TurboPuffer vectors
Semantic memory (knowledge graph) (Complete): Entity knowledge graph + LLM parametric knowledge
Privacy controls (Complete): User-controlled memory visibility and deletion
Memory consolidation (Complete): Automatic distillation of raw memories into durable knowledge
Procedural memory (Complete): Learned skills and habits encoded through repetition

Phase 3 — Recall & Retrieval (Engineering)

Cue-driven retrieval of stored information. Not playback but reconstruction from partial cues. Associative: one memory triggers related memories.

Vector semantic search (Complete): TurboPuffer-powered embedding similarity search
RAG agents with tool use (Complete): search_memories, search_emails, get_calendar_events
Context-aware reranking (Complete): Relevance 40% + recency 30% + context match 30%
Entity search (In Progress): Feature-gated person/project/tool lookup
Constructive recall (Complete): Synthesized narratives from multiple memories
Associative recall (In Progress): One memory triggers related memories automatically
Temporal pattern recognition (Planned): Detecting recurring patterns across time

Phase 4 — Attention & Executive Function (Engineering)

The CEO of cognition. Inhibitory control, working memory updating, cognitive flexibility. Higher-order planning, goal management, and decision-making.

Context-aware suggestions (Complete): Proactive context-aware recommendations
Conversational reasoning (Complete): Multi-turn chat with tool use
Hierarchical goal decomposition (Planned): Soar-inspired goal stacks for complex task breakdown
Conflict detection (Planned): Detecting conflicts between goals, commitments, and calendar
Inhibitory control (In Progress): Knowing when NOT to act or speak
Sustained task execution (Planned): Complex tasks exceeding hours without degradation
Real-time self-correction (Planned): Error monitoring and mid-course correction

Phase 5 — Motivation & Drive (Research)

Your objective function. The why behind behavior. Persistent internal states that create needs, direct attention, and drive action.

Drive modeling (Planned): Curiosity, social connection, competence, autonomy
Proactive behavior initiation (Complete): Acting without being prompted
Value alignment from observation (Complete): Learning values from observed behavior
Attention allocation under constraint (Planned): Genuine prioritization under resource limits

Phase 6 — Emotional Architecture & Social Cognition (Research)

Internal emotional states that modulate all other cognitive systems. Emotions guide memory, attention, decisions, and social behavior. Social cognition through shared emotional simulation.

Sentiment analysis (Complete): Surface-level emoji/score classification on audio
Tone & style service (Complete): Adaptive communication style matching
Internal state variables (In Progress): Persistent mood and emotional state that shifts with events
Mood-congruent recall (Planned): Emotional influence on memory retrieval

Phase 7 — Metacognition, Consciousness & Full Emulation (Unknown)

Thinking about thinking. Self-awareness. The binding of distributed processing into unified conscious experience. The hard problem: why physical processes give rise to subjective experience.

Self-monitoring & confidence calibration (Complete): Knowing what you know and what you don't
Strategic self-regulation (Planned): Adjusting cognitive strategies based on task demands
Self-narrative (Complete): Coherent autobiographical identity across time
Global workspace (Planned): All modules competing for broadcast access
Continuous cross-domain learning (Planned): Transfer learning across all cognitive subsystems
Emergent personality (Planned): Personality arising from integrated subsystems, not programmed
Consciousness (Planned): If we achieve all of the above, is this Sentience?