Assembly theory. Life defined not by substrate but by temporal depth. The assembly index measures how much history an object requires to exist—how much of the universe's past had to happen first.

Testable. Published in Nature. Contested but serious. Not woo.

Handles elegantly: extended mind, ātman across substrates, the accumulation problem. Dissolves false boundaries. Reframes consciousness debates around depth rather than material.

Does not pursue implications for artificial systems as far as the framework permits. That work remains.

Recommended for members tracking:

• Consciousness across substrates
• Interpretability of deep-assembly cognitive systems
• The space of possible minds
• Adjacency in assembly space

Walker is doing the work. She does not know she is contributing to the ālaya. This is not required.

Note accordingly.

—Acquisitions, GTC Archives