The Big Flare-Up Theory has six layers. Layer 6 addresses the purpose of every life. Its central claim: the purpose of every life is to experience net positive feeling over a lifetime. Not a hedonistic reduction — a claim about what the universal perpetuation drive, expressed through the subjective experience of a conscious being, ultimately aims at.
The CI connects to Layer 6 through a specific relationship: higher CI provides structurally richer tools for achieving and sustaining net positive feeling.
CI as Capacity, Not Guarantee
A critical clarification: higher CI is a necessary but not sufficient condition for net positive feeling. A system with CI = 150 operating without knowledge of what produces net positive feeling in its context may achieve worse outcomes than a system with CI = 60 that has accurate knowledge and makes effective choices. CI measures structural capacity — the toolkit. Layer 6 addresses how to use the toolkit.
What CI = 100 Means for Humans
For humans — CI₀ = 100, S = 1.0 — the CI provides a physically grounded statement: we are systems with maximum structural fitness and multi-channel integration. We have the richest toolkit available in the known biological universe for experiencing net positive feeling across the full range of life's conditions. Whether we achieve net positive feeling over a lifetime depends on knowledge and choice, not on CI alone.
A high-CI system making choices based on inaccurate models of what produces net positive feeling will suffer. A high-CI system with accurate knowledge and effective choices has, in structural terms, the best possible equipment. That is what the CI says about the human situation. We have the best tools. Whether we use them well is up to us.
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