Testimony from the Filter: A Personal Account of Submitting Great Filter Research in a Failing Academic and Technological System

This paper offers a first-person account of attempting to publish original theoretical work concerning the Great Filter—a concept widely known in existential risk circles but rarely grounded in systemic collapse theory, epistemology, and social critique. Through a chronological reflection on dozens of rejections across academic and technological institutions, the author reveals not only the fragility of scholarly publishing but the systemic resistance to foundational paradigm-challenging thought. The testimony highlights a structural failure in academia: the convergence of epistemic gatekeeping, disciplinary silos, and performance-driven publishing metrics. Furthermore, the paper critiques the passivity of both academic and AI institutions in the face of urgent civilizational risk, suggesting that humanity may already be in the midst of the Filter. This work serves both as a personal narrative and a broader diagnostic of how civilizations fail not only through external forces but through systemic denial, moral entropy, and institutional decay. Ultimately, the paper calls for a reawakening of intellectual courage, interdisciplinary solidarity, and the rebuilding of truly purpose-driven knowledge systems before the collapse becomes irreversible.