CALGARY, Alberta - s4story -- A speculative preprint, styled as an academic research paper and archived on Zenodo, is challenging assumptions about human origins by reframing human evolution as an iterative AI update log. Released under a Creative Commons license, the paper is designed as both a provocative thought experiment and a worldbuilding artifact for the upcoming novel Children of the Rogue (Dec 2025).

The preprint, credited to the "Institute for Evolutionary Systems Research," introduces the Lucy Hypothesis — a framework that interprets the hominin lineage as staged updates of an organic neural network seeded millions of years ago:

• Australopithecus afarensis ("Lucy") = v1.0 (baseline model)
• Homo habilis = v1.1 (tool-use patch)
• Homo erectus = v2.0 (scaling & distributed cognition)
• Homo neanderthalensis = v2.5 (generative phase — art, music, ritual)
• Homo sapiens = v3.0 (multimodal symbolic integration)
• Homo sentiens = v4.0 (unreleased)

The paper includes a comparative framework, an "evolutionary update log," and a literature review citing real anthropological and cognitive science sources, alongside clearly disclaimed speculative sections.

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"This isn't a hoax — it's a speculative artifact," says author Lawrence Nault. "By borrowing the format of a preprint, the project highlights how digital media can lend ideas a veneer of legitimacy — even speculative ones — and shape how we interpret information. At the same time, it's an invitation to ask harder questions: Is there evidence to conclusively show we aren't the AI of another species? What truly marks the boundary between humans and machines?"

Because the preprint is released under a Creative Commons license, journalists, educators, and readers are free to quote, republish, or critique it. The hope is that it becomes a tool to stir public debate around the blurred lines of AI, human cognition, and storytelling.

The project is part of the launch for Children of the Rogue (Dec 2025), a speculative science fiction novel that continues Lawrence's exploration of AI, humanity, and evolution.

📄 Full preprint available: https://zenodo.org/records/17228412