beforeword · English transcription of the sent letter Intended recipient: Joscha Bach Author: Kirill Shebetov · beforeword Sent to: joscha@bach.ai Sending date in the supplied materials: The header shows only “Friday”; the calendar date is not shown. The sending timezone is not supplied. Status: shown in the Sent folder; no reply published. The published materials do not establish receipt or reading by the recipient. Record: https://beforeword.xyz/letters/researchers/bach/en/#record Record data: https://beforeword.xyz/letters/researchers/bach/record.json Russian translation: https://beforeword.xyz/letters/researchers/bach/#letter Transcribed from author-supplied screenshots. Screen line wraps are joined and overlaps included once; wording and punctuation are retained. beforeword’s context and links to discussed publications are separate on the letter page. --- BEGIN ENGLISH TRANSCRIPTION --- Subject: Interpretive validation: one claim, one alternative Dear Dr Bach, In §IV.2 of the CIMC research whitepaper you coauthored (April 2026), the proposed evidence includes “structures interpretable as second-order perception”. Your hypothetical learning-agent example combines changes in task performance and internal organization, assessed against alternative explanations. Please indicate one competing explanation for that example and one supporting claim, explaining how the claim would favor the consciousness interpretation. beforeword begins with the written formulation. It asks that the proposed reading and the grounds offered for it remain separately inspectable. A written explanation adds another formulation. Its interpretation and its proposed evidential role also enter the examination; calling it a “criterion” or “explanation” leaves that role to be shown. The same examination includes written descriptions of measurements and internal structures, human self-reports, stated criteria, the wording of beforeword’s own procedure, and this letter—including its terms “experience”, “evidence”, “writing” and “reading”. The reading procedure and worked examples: https://beforeword.xyz/model/en/ Kirill Shebetov beforeword + --- END ENGLISH TRANSCRIPTION ---