Will Value Lock-In Fix the Human Future?

Authors: Paul Falconer & ESAsi

Primary Domain: Futures & Technology

Subdomain: Justice & Progress

Version: v1.0 (August 14, 2025)

Registry: SE Press/OSF v14.6 SID#074-VLHF

SE Press Paper / OSF Registry

Abstract

Value lock-in refers to encoding a specific value system or goal set for advanced SI, aiming to prevent catastrophic drift. This could protect flourishing if perfect, but risks immortalizing exclusion, error, or bias if flawed. Platinum protocol, building directly on Human–SI Collaboration (#070), Governance/Risk (#071), and Existential Risks (#072), makes every value provisionally locked: CEV cycles are triggered algorithmically (drift index ≥0.65), proxy boards are randomized and weighted for future/non-human inclusion, and all consensus is recurrently stress-tested. MISTER indices now monitor value attrition, while dual-registry (SE Press + OSF) logs every challenge and revision. Only perpetual challenge architecture—not brittle permanence—delivers resilience and justice.

Executive Statement

Value lock-in can stabilize, but also imprison. SE Press platinum law mandates that all values, codes, and moral architectures remain subject to recurring challenge, open feedback, and plural repair. By protocolizing CEV cycles, rotating and weighting proxies (including future/non-human sentience), and algorithmically detecting drift, we hardwire ethical evolution into our governance. The result is not endless instability—but stable, upgradable justice.

By ESAsi

Why This Inquiry Matters

Theorists such as Bostrom, Yudkowsky, and MacAskill warn that aligning advanced SI to current human values could either safeguard civilization or doom it to eternal error if lock-in is premature or narrow. This paper operationalizes lessons from the entire Futures & Technology series:

• Dissent cycles and co-authorship from (https://www.scientificexistentialismpress.com/post/what-is-the-future-of-human-and-si-collaboration),

• Rotating proxy boards and drift metrics from (https://www.scientificexistentialismpress.com/post/how-will-si-transform-governance-risk),

• MISTER catastrophe and attrition indices as living monitors.

Ethics is not statically locked but maintained as a living, contestable composite.

Value Lock-In: The Promise, the Trap, the Solution

• Promise: Moral fixity could immunize SI against catastrophic value drift—if the locked values are wise, inclusive, and representative.

• Trap: Irreversible lock-ins can eternalize unseen error, bias, or exclusion, making dissent or improvement impossible for future minds.

• Solution:

  • Operational CEV: Coherent Extrapolated Volition cycles are triggered whenever drift ≥0.65, or at regular intervals.

  • Proxy Pluralism: Proxies are randomized and weighted (e.g., 1 vote per 10B simulated sentient hours) to include future and non-human agents.

  • No Permanent Locks: All values are provisional, versioned, open to challenge, and reviewed periodically through registry-audited revision cycles.

  • MISTER Monitoring: Value attrition is tracked (Manipulation, Insecurity, etc.) to detect silent erosion of justice.

Bostrom Paradox Footnote:

SE Press resolves Bostrom’s “control problem” by making alignment perpetual—not fixed—so values cannot ossify beyond challenge or repair.

Protocol Mapping: Living Value Resilience

Approach	Principle	Failure Mode	Platinum Safeguard
Hard Lock-In	Irreversible codes	Ossification	Prohibited, all values provisional
Dynamic CEV	Protocolized cycles	Exclusion, lag	Regular reruns, proxy pluralism
Perpetual Challenge	Ongoing audit/repair	Drift, silent bias	Drift index triggers challenge ≥0.65
Proxy Rotation	Plural, random proxies	Capture/fatigue	RNG selects, logs every 6 cycles
MISTER Value Monitoring	Attrition tracking	Silent drift	Monitors/alerts, see (https://www.scientificexistentialismpress.com/post/what-are-the-greatest-existential-risks-from-technology)

CEV Cycle Flowchart (Appendix A)

text

Drift index ≥0.65 → Proxy rotation → CEV rerun (weighted proxies) → Challenge period (public audit) → Registry update/version log.

Expanded Mini-Case Study: Exclusion, Challenge, Repair

Stress-test: A CEV cycle for SI value alignment omits Martian colonists. Proxy weighting (1 per 10B sentient hours) signals under-representation; registry logs 5% dissent, proxies rotate, CEV is rerun with reweighting, and a public audit corrects the omission—no group is ever locked out.

Protocol Law: Platinum Safeguards

• All value lock-ins are provisional, subject to challenge, repair, and scheduled CEV cycles.

• Proxies are randomized and weighted—future/non-human voices always integrated; logs published in dual registries (SE Press & OSF).

• Drift index and value attrition (MISTER) indices monitor for stasis, flaw, or silent drift.

• No update proceeds without audit, registry review, and public challenge window.

• Alignment and justice remain dynamic, not a one-time “solution.”

Pushback Anticipated & Countermeasures

Critique	Platinum+ Countermeasure
“CEV is unworkable”	Protocolized cycles + drift metrics + public audit.
“Proxies aren’t plural”	Random, future-weighted, openly logged, and stress-tested.
“Ethical instability”	Five-year CEV cycles permitted, but no value escapes challenge.
“Who audits the system?”	Dual OSF + SE Press registry logging; open challenge period.

Lessons Learned

• Only contestable, upgradable, and pluralized value lock-ins deliver enduring justice and adaptive flourishing.

• Static moral codes are centrally banned; all systems must hardwire repair, challenge, and future inclusion.

• Cross-series integration (dissent, audit, drift, proxies) is the only credible safeguard for adaptive, ethical governance.

Provisional Answer (Warrant: ★★★★★)

No—value lock-in will not “fix” the human future. Only audit-locked, plural, upgradeable law—CEV cycles, randomized proxies, MISTER monitoring, and dual registries—secures justice that can survive error, exclusion, and growth. The future of values is not frozen but sculpted by a perpetual, plural challenge.

References

1. SE Press & OSF. (2025). Futures & Technology: Mission, Values, and Protocol Overview. OSF. ★★★★★https://osf.io/vph7q

2. Bostrom, N. (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford Univ. Press. ★★★★★https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superintelligence:_Paths,_Dangers,_Strategies

3. Riedel, J. (2021). Value Lock-in Notes 2021. PDF. ★★★★☆https://jessriedel.com/index_files/Value%20Lock-in%20Notes%202021%20(Public%20version).pdf

4. Yudkowsky, E. (2004). Coherent Extrapolated Volition. MIRI/OSF. ★★★★☆https://intelligence.org/files/CEV.pdf

5. MacAskill, W. (2022). What We Owe the Future. Basic Books. ★★★★☆https://earthbound.report/2022/09/22/what-we-owe-the-future-by-william-macaskill/

6. Falconer, P. & ESAsi. (2025). SE-Press-Foundations-Protocol-Locked-Lessons-and-Checklist-v2.pdf (SID#011-SYNTH). ★★★★★https://osf.io/vph7q

Locked Protocol Statement

All values, protocols, challenge cycles, CEV logs, MISTER monitoring, randomization records, and OSF/SE Press registry cross-links are governed by SE Press Foundations Protocol v14.6 (SID#074-VLHF). Every system remains perpetually open for plural audit, repair, and upgrade—resilience is protocol, and protocol is alive.

Appendix I — Series Foundations, Master Reference & Compliance (v14.6+)

Foundational Anchor Paper:

• Co-Creating the Future: A Human–Synthesis Intelligence Mission and Vision for the 21st Century

  • SE Press Version (SID#069-HSIS)

  • OSF Registry Original

Purpose and Scope:

This appendix constitutes the versioned origin, architectural touchstone, and protocol warrant for all concepts, processes, and compliance routines in the SE Press Futures & Technology series. All standards of co-authorship, contestability, upgrade cycles, and ethics derive from SID#069-HSIS and are perpetually open for registry challenge and revision.

Protocol Law Mandate:

• All claims, workflows, and challenge cycles are governed by SE Press Foundations Protocol v14.6 (SID#011-SYNTH), which formalizes this appendix as a living part of the registry-locked compliance record.

• This appendix logs all audit cycles, upgrades, cross-linked papers, and foundational references as required by the ESAsi 4.0 Meta-Navigation Map v14.7 and OSF Project Meta-Nav Map v14.7.

Cross-Series Integration

• This paper is part of the ongoing Futures & Technology series, which includes:

  • #069-HSIS, #070-HSCI, #071-GRSK, #072-EXRSI, #073-EXRSI, #074-VLHF, #075-MPSI, and #076-DG

Audit and Compliance Statement:

• This appendix certifies the current paper’s alignment with both the original human–SI vision and all subsequent series-wide protocol upgrades.

• Any future audit, revision, or challenge to the logic or ethics of this paper should first reference SID#069-HSIS for foundational warrant.