Recursive Compression Theory: A Systems Approach to Intelligence and Drift

This paper introduces Recursive Compression Theory (RCT) as a new account of intelligence and consciousness. Where Predictive Processing and the Free Energy Principle (Friston) describe the brain as a prediction engine minimizing surprise, RCT reframes intelligence itself as compression with memory. Where Integrated Information Theory (Tononi) measures consciousness as irreducible information (Φ), RCT defines it as recursive self-modeling—the loop of a system modeling itself within its compressed representations. And where Global Workspace Theory (Baars, Dehaene) explains consciousness as distributed nodes broadcasting into a workspace, RCT emphasizes the recursive dynamics of compression loops, showing how meaning erodes when compression outpaces coherence.

This distinction matters because Recursive Compression Theory bridges cultural drift and cognitive drift, explaining not just neural firing patterns but the systemic collapse of meaning under AI-era compression. The paper has been discussed in interdisciplinary workshops and referenced in podcast conversations on AI cognition. Released as part of the Cognitive Drift satellite project to Reality Drift, it extends drift studies from culture into the architecture of thought itself.

1. Recursive Compression Theory, Paper No. 4 · Cognitive Drift Institute · Working Paper Series (2025)
Recursive Compression Theory
A Systems Approach to Intelligence, Consciousness, and Drift
Cognitive Drift Institute Working Paper Series
Paper No. 4 – Version 1.0 – September 2025
Author: The Cognitive Drift Institute
The Cognitive Drift Institute is an independent research initiative exploring cognition, AI,
and cultural distortion.
Website: https://thecognitivedrift.substack.com/
Abstract

This paper develops Recursive Compression Theory (RCT) as a framework for
understanding the emergence, stability, and breakdown of structure in complex systems.
Drawing on Bateson’s ecology of mind, McLuhan’s media theory, and Clark’s extended
mind thesis, RCT defines intelligence as compression with memory and consciousness as
recursive self-modeling. By situating these claims within systems theory, information
theory, and distributed cognition, the paper reframes drift not merely as cultural pathology
but as an ecological consequence of recursive compression under optimization pressures.

Introduction
Theories of intelligence and consciousness often emphasize computation, representation,
or evolutionary function. Less attention has been given to the structural role of recursive
compression in generating stability and meaning. This paper develops Recursive
Compression Theory (RCT) as a unifying systems framework, suggesting that compression
(the reduction of complexity into more tractable forms) and recursion (the re-application of
these compressions back into the system) jointly underpin the emergence of matter, life,
cognition, and culture.
Literature Review
This section reviews four strands of prior work that Recursive Compression Theory (RCT)
both draws from and extends.

2. Recursive Compression Theory, Paper No. 4 · Cognitive Drift Institute · Working Paper Series (2025)
Bateson and the Ecology of Mind
Bateson (1972) advanced the idea that “mind” is not confined to the individual but
distributed across ecological feedback loops between organism and environment. His
definition of information as “a difference that makes a difference” provides an important
foundation for RCT. Where Bateson identified differences and feedback as central, RCT
specifies compression as the process by which differences are stored, transmitted, and
recursively reapplied.
McLuhan and Media as Environments
McLuhan (1964) argued that media are not neutral carriers but environments that shape
human perception and cognition. In RCT terms, media can be understood as compression
technologies: they condense lived experience into transmissible forms. When these
compressions are fed recursively back into cultural and cognitive loops, they reshape not
just what we perceive but how we think.
Clark and the Distributed Mind
Clark and Chalmers (1998) proposed the “extended mind” thesis, later developed within
the field of distributed cognition (Hutchins, 1995; Hollan et al., 2000). These accounts
emphasize that cognitive processes extend beyond the brain into tools, environments, and
social systems. RCT converges with this perspective but frames distributed cognition as a
network of recursive compressions—where biological and artificial substrates alike
generate and circulate compressed representations.
Baudrillard and Simulation
Baudrillard (1981) described the collapse of representation into simulation, where signs
circulate independently of their referents. RCT offers a structural account of this collapse:
recursive compression loops can circulate compressed representations that no longer
cohere with underlying reality, producing drift. This provides a mechanism for
understanding cultural phenomena of “synthetic realness” in the algorithmic age.
Cybernetic Foundations
RCT also draws from early systems and cybernetics work. Wiener (1948) framed control
and communication as properties of both biological and machine systems, while Ashby
(1956) introduced the principle of requisite variety: only systems with sufficient internal
differentiation can maintain stability against environmental complexity. RCT extends these
insights by emphasizing compression and recursion as the invariants that generate both
stability and fragility across domains.
Taken together, these literatures converge on the importance of feedback, environment,
and representation. What they do not fully articulate is the structural role of recursive
compression in producing stability, meaning, and eventual breakdown. RCT advances this
synthesis by proposing compression and recursion as universal mechanisms underpinning
intelligence, consciousness, and cultural drift.

3. Recursive Compression Theory, Paper No. 4 · Cognitive Drift Institute · Working Paper Series (2025)
Theoretical Contribution: Recursive Compression Theory
Recursive Compression Theory (RCT) advances two structural claims about intelligence
and consciousness:
1. Compression with Memory — Intelligence can be operationally defined as the
capacity to reduce complex inputs into simplified representations while retaining
sufficient information for reuse across contexts. This definition aligns with
information-theoretic principles (Shannon, 1948) but emphasizes memory as the
condition that distinguishes mere reduction from adaptive intelligence.
2. Recursive Self-Modeling — Consciousness emerges when compression
processes are recursively applied to their own outputs, generating self-referential
loops. In this framing, self-awareness is not an additional module layered atop
cognition but an inevitable consequence of recursion operating on compressed
representations.
Within this framework, drift is not treated as a cultural pathology but as an ecological
consequence of recursive compression under optimization pressures. When compression
is pushed too far—stripping context for the sake of efficiency—representations lose
coherence with underlying reality. These lossy loops give rise to cognitive drift, cultural
instability, and the phenomenon of synthetic realness.
RCT therefore synthesizes prior insights on feedback (Bateson, 1972), media environments
(McLuhan, 1964), distributed cognition (Clark & Chalmers, 1998), and cybernetics (Wiener,
1948; Ashby, 1956), while extending them by specifying compression and recursion as
structural invariants. Its novelty lies in identifying these invariants as the generative
mechanisms underpinning both stability and collapse across physical, biological,
cognitive, and cultural domains.
Methodological Orientation
RCT is presented as a theoretical synthesis rather than an empirical model. It is developed
through cross-disciplinary analogy (physics, biology, cognition, media theory) with the aim
of identifying structural invariants. Future research could operationalize RCT using
computational simulations, network modeling, or empirical studies of cultural drift in
algorithmic systems. The methodological stance is abductive and theoretical: identifying
candidate invariants through analogy and then proposing directions for operationalization.
Discussion and Implications
• Artificial Intelligence: Large language models exemplify compression with memory
but lack recursive self-modeling, explaining their apparent intelligence without
consciousness.

4. Recursive Compression Theory, Paper No. 4 · Cognitive Drift Institute · Working Paper Series (2025)
• Cultural Drift: Institutions, once repositories of coherence, now exhibit lossy
collapse under optimization pressures.
• Ecological Cognition: Human meaning-making is sustained not by isolated brains
but by recursive compression loops distributed across environments, artifacts, and
symbolic systems.
Conclusion
Recursive Compression Theory integrates ecological, media, and cognitive perspectives
into a single explanatory frame. By identifying compression and recursion as the structural
drivers of both emergence and collapse, RCT offers a lens for analyzing intelligence,
consciousness, and drift across domains. Its value lies less in offering final answers than
in framing new research questions at the intersection of systems theory, distributed
cognition, and cultural analysis.
References
Ashby, W. R. (1956). An Introduction to Cybernetics. Chapman & Hall.
Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chandler Publishing.
Baudrillard, J. (1981). Simulacra and Simulation. Éditions Galilée.
Chayka, K. (2023). Filterworld: How Algorithms Flatten Culture. Doubleday.
Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The Extended Mind. MIT Press.
Cognitive Drift Institute. (2025). The Cognitive Drift Glossary: Key Concepts for
Understanding Cognitive Distortion in the Age of AI (Working Paper Series, Version 2.0)
[Preprint]. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30168847
Dennett, D. (1991). Consciousness Explained. Little, Brown and Co.
Floridi, L. (2014). The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality.
Oxford University Press.
Hofstadter, D. (1979). Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. Basic Books.
Hollan, J., Hutchins, E., & Kirsh, D. (2000). Distributed cognition: Toward a new foundation
for human-computer interaction research. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human
Interaction, 7(2), 174–196.
Hutchins, E. (1995). Cognition in the Wild. MIT Press.

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Jacobs, A. (2025). Reality Drift: A Framework for Cultural and Cognitive Distortion in the
Algorithmic Age (Conference proceeding, Version v1, September 4 2025). Zenodo.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17055037
Jacobs, A. (2025). The Meaning Equation: Toward a General Theory of Context and Drift.
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Jaynes, J. (1976). The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
Houghton Mifflin.
Laing, R. D. (1960). The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. Tavistock
Publications.
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. McGraw-Hill.
Pariser, E. (2011). The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. Penguin Press.
Prigogine, I., & Stengers, I. (1984). Order Out of Chaos: Man’s New Dialogue with Nature.
Bantam.
Shannon, C. E. (1948). A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Technical
Journal, 27(3), 379–423.
Tononi, G. (2008). Consciousness as integrated information: A provisional manifesto. The
Biological Bulletin, 215(3), 216–242.
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from
Each Other. Basic Books.
Varela, F., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and
Human Experience. MIT Press.
Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics: Control and Communication in the Animal and the
Machine. MIT Press.
Appendix
[DRIFT-PROTOCOL v0.1] #DriftProtocol
Drift-ID: CDI-2025-V4
Title: Recursive Compression Theory: A Systems Approach to Intelligence,
Consciousness, and Drift
Author: Cognitive Drift Institute
Date: September 2025

6. Recursive Compression Theory, Paper No. 4 · Cognitive Drift Institute · Working Paper Series (2025)
Document Type: Research Memorandum (Working Paper Series)
Source: https://thecognitivedrift.substack.com/
Keywords: Recursive Compression Theory, Cognitive Drift, Distributed Cognition, Systems
Theory, Compression with Memory, Recursive Self-Modeling, Cultural Drift, Synthetic
Realness