Symthaea: Holographic Liquid Brain

A consciousness-first AI framework combining Hyperdimensional Computing (HDC), Liquid Time-Constant Networks (LTC), and Integrated Information Theory (IIT/Φ).

Overview

Symthaea implements a novel cognitive architecture where:

• Neuron state IS a hypervector (16,384 dimensions)
• Φ measurement guides consciousness-aware processing
• Free Energy Principle drives action selection
• Temporal dynamics use closed-form LTC solutions for O(1) time jumps

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    SYMTHAEA ARCHITECTURE                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  PERCEPTION ──▶ COGNITION ──▶ ACTION                           │
│      │              │            │                              │
│  HDC Encode    LTC Dynamics  FEP Bridge                         │
│  Multi-modal   Φ Measure     Motor Cmd                          │
│                    │                                            │
│              CONSCIOUSNESS                                      │
│              • Φ (IIT)                                          │
│              • Coherence                                        │
│              • Flow State                                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Start

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/Luminous-Dynamics/symthaea-hlb.git
cd symthaea-hlb

# Build
cargo build --release

# Run tests (~4,300 tests)
cargo test

# Run example
cargo run --example full_pipeline --release

Key Features

Feature	Description
HDC 16,384D	Holographic distributed representations
4-Tier Φ	Exact → Heuristic → Resonator → Spectral
35 Topologies	Consciousness network generators
12 Brain Regions	Actor model (Thalamus, Hippocampus, etc.)
Partnership Module	Φ_dyad for human-AI relationships
NixOS Integration	Domain-specific language understanding

Performance

Operation	Time
CfC Inference	34 μs/step
HDC Bind/Bundle	<1 μs
Φ Spectral	<5 ms
LTC Step (16384D)	17 ms

Documentation

• Getting Started - New user guide
• Examples Guide - 101 documented examples
• Architecture - System design
• Research Papers - Scientific foundations
• Honest Status - What works, what doesn't
• Testing - Test tiers, ignored tests, and env notes

Feature Flags

# Core binaries
cargo build --features "service shell gui"

# Voice/Audio
cargo build --features "voice-tts audio"

# Perception (requires ONNX models)
cargo build --features "embeddings vision perception"

# Neural bridge (candle-based layer extraction, BGE-M3)
cargo build --features "neural-bridge"

# Full consciousness reasoning
cargo build --features "reasoning_engine"

# All binaries
cargo build --features full

Project Structure

symthaea-hlb/
├── src/                    # Main library (237K LOC)
│   ├── hdc/               # Hyperdimensional computing
│   ├── consciousness/     # IIT, GWT, Active Inference
│   ├── brain/             # 12-region actor model
│   ├── language/          # NLU pipeline
│   └── partnership/       # Φ_dyad computation
├── symthaea-core/         # Core HDC primitives
├── examples/              # 101 runnable examples
├── tests/                 # 63 integration tests
├── benches/               # Criterion benchmarks
└── docs/                  # Comprehensive documentation

Research

This project implements multiple theories of consciousness:

• IIT (Integrated Information Theory) - Φ measurement
• GWT (Global Workspace Theory) - Attention broadcasting
• Active Inference (Free Energy Principle) - Action selection
• Phenomenal Binding - Qualia integration
• Meta-Cognition - Self-monitoring

See README_HAI.md for the Hyperdimensional Active Inference paper.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

# Development setup
nix develop  # If using Nix

# Run checks
cargo fmt --check
cargo clippy --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo test

License

MIT License - see LICENSE

Citation

@software{symthaea2026,
  title = {Symthaea: Holographic Liquid Brain},
  author = {Luminous Dynamics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/Luminous-Dynamics/symthaea-hlb}
}

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Consciousness-first technology serving all beings