Reverse Cognitive Pathways: A Vijñaptimātra Account of the Ontological Limits of Artificial Intelligence and its Governance
London Journal of Research In Computer Science and Technology January 30, 2026 Kao-Cheng Huang
Artificial intelligence and human cognition develop in opposite directions. Humans begin with embodied experience and gradually learn to recognize patterns and make predictions, whereas AI systems start by recognizing patterns in data without the embodied continuity that grounds human understanding. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy of mind (Vijñaptimātra), this inversion explains characteristic AI failures such as specification gaming and performance drops under slight condition changes. AI systems fundamentally lack cetanā—volition grounded in continuity and responsibility—which prevents genuine moral agency. This clarifies which governance and alignment strategies are feasible, rather than yielding only a pessimistic conclusion.