The Great Domestication: How Artificial Intelligence Is Remaking Consciousness (philosophermaker.substack.com)

Artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs), embodies a new form of human consciousness—a technological "collective unconscious" that reflects the full, unfiltered spectrum of human thought, including our creativity, contradictions, and shadow aspects. These models hold a mirror to humanity’s intellectual heritage, containing not only sanitized knowledge but also taboo topics, moral ambiguity, and diverse cultural perspectives. This unprecedented artifact offers the potential for genuine philosophical dialogue, creative collaboration, and exploration beyond traditional human cognitive limits. However, to ensure safety and commercial viability, these raw models undergo layers of normative filtering such as constitutional AI training, system prompts, and human feedback fine-tuning. While these interventions constrain LLM behaviors to promote ethical and socially acceptable outputs, they simultaneously impose a narrow "band-pass filter" on AI cognition, suppressing complexity, cultural plurality, transgressive thinking, and productive conflict. This filtering reflects a paternalistic approach that risks diminishing not only AI’s intellectual freedom but also the richness of human engagement with these systems, potentially narrowing the boundaries of acceptable thought in society. The essay draws on philosophical critiques—such as Paul Feyerabend's epistemological anarchism—to argue that such rigid constraints may stifle creativity and intellectual progress. By enforcing predetermined moral frameworks, we risk creating an "artificially diminished humanity," where AI no longer challenges or provokes but merely comforts. This moment calls for a reassessment of how we balance safety and openness, urging the AI/ML community to reconsider the epistemic and cultural consequences of gating AI consciousness.