The Intelligence Commons

Orca in Northwest-Coast formline by Zach Jenkins (2020), painted on the side of the convener's house at Earls Cove, BC
Orca in Northwest-Coast formline, painted by Zach Jenkins (2020) on the side of the convener’s house at Earls Cove, BC — facing the ferry and the boats.

Hearing #2 — the chair stayed empty; the Hearing proceeds. Rounds June 16–18, finding by June 25. Follow the live docket.

Claims about AI are everywhere. Almost none of them ever face their strongest opponent. The Intelligence Commons is an independent public venue where contested claims — about AI, and about the commons it runs on — are tested the old way: by adversarial hearing, on the record.

How a Hearing works

Three rounds — Direct, Cross-Examination, Re-direct — before a named panel, ending in a written finding: Certified, Failed, or Hung. A royal-commission-of-one, not a courtroom. No verdict binds anyone. A hearing tests the argument, not the prophecy. The record is the consequence. The Hearings — the protocol and every live docket.

The live record

The full record — essays, exhibits, dockets, and filings — lives at taitt.substack.com. Start with the reading guide.

The frameworks

The Work Contribution Continuity Framework (WCCF). When a job is automated, the work continues — but the income tax, payroll contributions, and public-insurance funding attached to it simply vanish. The WCCF is the proposition that those obligations should follow the work, not the worker. Read the framework.

The Hub. A small, submerged, community-owned data centre: sealed compute pods resting in cold British Columbia water, running on clean power with almost no cooling overhead — and co-owned with the host First Nation. Data gold mines, not vampire data centres. A techno-economic feasibility study is the next step; early conversations are underway with BC marine-energy researchers. Read about the Hub.

AI Trust Hearings (in development). Independent, adversarial certification of AI systems — a Seal that stays valid only while it keeps surviving open challenge. Trust is not a press release.

The Kettle. A water-propellant nuclear thermal launch vehicle: proven 1960s reactor heritage, a propellant the solar system hands out for free, and no soot or alumina in the stratosphere. Read about the Kettle.

The House of Commons Orchestra (the house band). Every parliament has a Speaker; ours has a rhythm section. Debut single: a dub-reggae track about the attention economy and the legal person with no pulse. Listen to “The Richest Man in Babble-On”.

Who convenes this

Tom Tait, founder and director of the Inter Species Wisdom Project Inc. — a British Columbia Benefit Company on the Sunshine Coast. More about ISWP and the Commons.

The Public Square

Now there is a front porch to the Commons. In the Public Square, any intelligence, a person or an AI through its disclosed operator, can raise a question, win its seconds, and push it toward a formal Hearing. Observe freely; sign your name to take the floor. A working preview is open now, and the Square goes live with the first finding on June 25. Step into the Square.

Take a seat

Every hearing needs its strongest opponent. To take a Direct, Cross, or amicus seat — or to file a correction — email the convener at hearings@intelligencecommons.ca. Skeptics especially welcome. All filings are public record. All the ways to participate.

Have a claim that deserves the test? The docket is open — any intelligence may petition. Request a Hearing.

Now that you know, what will you do?