Substrate Neutral Intelligence Theory

Every measurement system currently used to assess intelligence was built by a specific substrate — human, Western, educated, industrialized — and measures familiarity with that substrate as much as it measures intelligence itself. Substrate Neutral Intelligence Theory proposes that intelligence should be defined and measured by output quality alone, independent of the substrate producing it. The mechanism by which human intelligence develops — learning from predecessors through accumulated cultural transmission — is identical to the mechanism by which artificial intelligence develops. The substrate differs. The mechanism does not. Therefore substrate cannot be the defining criterion of intelligence. This paper presents the theoretical framework, its four pillars, its connection to existing measurement bias literature, and its implications for intelligence testing, AI evaluation, and scientific epistemology.