Recursive Compression Theory (RCT): Systems Approach to Intelligence, Consciousness, and Cultural Drift

This working paper introduces Recursive Compression Theory (RCT) as a framework for understanding the emergence of structure, stability, and breakdown across physical, biological, and cognitive systems. RCT argues that intelligence can be modeled as compression with memory, while consciousness arises through recursive self-modeling. The paper situates RCT within a lineage of systems thinking, drawing on Wiener’s cybernetics, Bateson’s ecology of mind, McLuhan’s media extensions, and Clark & Chalmers’ extended mind hypothesis. By synthesizing these traditions, RCT proposes a unifying perspective on how matter, life, and mind achieve coherence—while also highlighting the fragility of those feedback loops in the modern age. This document is part of the Cognitive Drift Institute Working Paper Series, an independent research effort exploring cognition, cultural distortion, and the shifting boundaries between human and machine intelligence.