Part of the Reality Drift framework (2023–2026) by A. Jacobs.
Recursive Compression Theory proposes that intelligence and meaning emerge from systems that repeatedly compress information into increasingly efficient representations.
Through recursive compression, complex patterns are reduced into models, symbols, and abstractions that allow systems to interpret and navigate their environment.
Over successive layers of compression, representations become more powerful but also more abstract, increasing the risk that meaning may detach from its original context.
Within the Reality Drift framework, Recursive Compression Theory describes the structural process through which symbolic systems generate meaning.
Reality Drift emerges when recursive compression accelerates faster than mechanisms that maintain semantic fidelity, allowing representations to propagate and refine even as their connection to underlying reality weakens.
Full framework library: