Ripple Ethics Field Equation for AGI Alignment

Academic paper presenting the Ripple Ethics Field Equation (REFE), a mathematical framework for AGI alignment that replaces reward optimisation with explicit harm minimisation. REFE models negative and positive ripples over humans, animals, and ecosystems, and compares their total load to population-level collapse thresholds based on cultural baselines and stress indicators. The paper also shows how REFE can be combined with contrastive learning and a redesigned RLHF layer so an AGI chooses the least harmful action instead of the highest reward.