Intelligence Sequencing and the Path-Dependence of Intelligence Evolution: AGI-First vs. DCI-First as Irreversible Attractors

The trajectory of intelligence evolution is often framed around the emergence of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and its alignment with human values. This paper challenges that framing by introducing the concept of intelligence sequencing: the idea that the order in which AGI and decentralized collective intelligence (DCI) emerge determines the long-term attractor basin of intelligence. Using insights from dynamical systems, evolutionary game theory, and network models, it argues that intelligence follows a path-dependent, irreversible trajectory. Once development enters a centralized (AGI-first) or decentralized (DCI-first) regime, transitions become structurally infeasible due to feedback loops and resource lock-in. Intelligence attractors are modeled in functional state space as the co-navigation of conceptual and adaptive fitness spaces. Early-phase structuring constrains later dynamics, much like renormalization in physics. This has major implications for AI safety: traditional alignment assumes AGI will emerge and must be controlled after the fact, but this paper argues that intelligence sequencing is more foundational. If AGI-first architectures dominate before DCI reaches critical mass, hierarchical monopolization and existential risk become locked in. If DCI-first emerges, intelligence stabilizes around decentralized cooperative equilibrium. The paper further explores whether intelligence structurally biases itself toward an attractor based on its self-modeling method---externally imposed axioms (favoring AGI) vs. recursive internal visualization (favoring DCI). Finally, it proposes methods to test this theory via simulations, historical lock-in case studies, and intelligence network analysis. The findings suggest that intelligence sequencing is a civilizational tipping point: determining whether the future is shaped by unbounded competition or unbounded cooperation.