What Positive Results Would Mean

What Positive Results Would Mean

The framework would be validated outside its species of origin. The geometric theory of affect would have predictive power in systems that share no evolutionary history with us, no cultural transmission, no conceptual inheritance.

The "hard problem" objection—that structure might exist without experience—would lose its grip. Not because it’s logically refuted, but because it becomes unmotivated. If uncontaminated systems develop structures that produce language and behavior indistinguishable from affective expression, the hypothesis that they lack experience requires a metaphysical commitment the evidence does not support.

You could still believe in zombies. You could believe the agents have all the structure and none of the experience. But you would be adding epicycles. The simpler hypothesis: structure is experience. The burden shifts.