Home / Hyperon AI Algorithms / MetaMo / MetaMo Full
Responsible: Ruiting Lian, Ben Goertzel
Papers: Lian & Goertzel (2025), MetaMo: A Robust Motivational Framework for Open-Ended AGI (AGI 2025); Lian & Goertzel (2025), Embodying Abstract Motivational Principles in Concrete AGI Systems (AGI 2025); Goertzel (2025), Hyperon Whitepaper §5.10; Cai, Goertzel, Geisweiller (2011), OpenPsi
Status: MetaMo is under development. The theoretical framework is described in the AGI 2025 papers. A Python reference implementation exists (MetaMo-Python). The predecessor OpenPsi framework is operational in hyperon-openpsi.
This card provides technical depth beyond the concise MetaMo index card. MetaMo is Hyperon's motivational framework — a system for modeling how goals, priorities, and evaluative signals update over time while preserving coherence, stability, and interpretability. It replaces scalar reward functions with structured motive geometries and replaces hand-tuned drive hierarchies with mathematically grounded dynamics.
Related cards: PLN Full (motivation-guided inference), ECAN Full (attention allocation), PRIMUS Full (goal management layer), Self-Modification and Safety Full (goal stability)
MetaMo represents motivation as a structured interaction between goal intensities and modulatory variables. Formally, the motivational state is an object \(X = G \times M\) in a category \(\mathcal{C}\), where \(G = (g_1, \ldots, g_P)\) is a vector of goal intensities and \(M = (\mu_1, \ldots, \mu_K)\) is a vector of modulator parameter values. The state includes:
MetaMo explicitly couples two processes:
The critical insight is that these processes interact asymmetrically: "feeling then choosing" differs slightly from "choosing then feeling."
MetaMo models cognitive motivation through a pseudo-bimonad coupling two components:
These are linked by a lax distributive law \(\lambda_X : \Psi(D(X)) \Rightarrow D(\Psi(X))\). The composite \(F = D \circ \Psi\) inherits both monad and comonad structure. A motivational coalgebra \(\alpha : X \to F(X)\) governs one full cycle of appraisal plus decision.
The Non-clustered Hyperon AI Algorithms cluster pilot Source 2 (Goertzel & Lian 2025 MetaMo papers + reference implementations) extracted a [PAPER-LEANING-HYBRID] / [IMPLEMENTATION-BACKED-CORE] / [REFERENCE-IMPLEMENTATION-NOT-PRODUCTION] verdict against iCog-Labs-Dev/MetaMo-Pythonat3ec409b HEAD . The formalism above has direct reference-code anchors at the skeleton level, with one important caveat:
[IMPLEMENTATION-BACKED-CORE] — the core state/operator skeleton is implemented:
core/state.py:8 (class MotivationalState with NUM_GOALS=8, NUM_MODULATORS=6 at core/config.py:1-7)category/functors.py:7 (class AppraisalComonad); concrete OpenPsiAppraisal(AppraisalComonad) at openpsi/appraisal.py:17category/functors.py:32 (class DecisionMonad); concrete MagusDecision(DecisionMonad) at magus/decision.py
category/bimonad.py:12 (class MetaMoPseudoBimonad)category/bimonad.py:42 (check_lax_distributive_law; bounds numerical distortion ≤ LAX_DISTRIBUTIVE_DELTA, NOT a categorical proof)category/bimonad.py:62 (parallel_merge)dynamics/stability.py:18 + :43dynamics/stability.py:54 (check_contractive_update_law)dynamics/stability.py:84 (apply_homeostatic_damping)dynamics/coherence.py:10 + :24category/functors.py:57 (class TranslationFunctor); applied at applications/research_assistant.py:88 via simulate_peer (the demo uses an identity translation matrix, so this counts as [SKELETON-IMPLEMENTATION] for Principle 2 — the class runs but the demo is degenerate)[FORMAL-LAWS-PAPER-ONLY] — the categorical laws (monad/comonad coherence, lax distributive law, pseudo-bimonad equations) are described in the paper and named in the code, but the code checks numeric distortion under sample inputs, not categorical coherence. There is no formal proof apparatus and no checked-in test suite (rg --files for tests in MetaMo-Python returns nothing; AGENTS.md:23 confirms no formal test suite).
This split also explains why the overall verdict is [REFERENCE-IMPLEMENTATION-NOT-PRODUCTION]: MetaMo-Python is small enough to map paper concepts to executable references, but it does not bind to MeTTa/AtomSpace, has no Hyperon runtime integration, and treats the principles as demo logic rather than validated system behavior. Production-grade MetaMo over Hyperon remains a roadmap item (see Status and Resources).
Cluster-pilot extraction archive: scripts/archive/non_clustered_haa_pilot/source2_metamo_paper/ (findings_codex.txt + findings_gemini.txt + findings_reconciled_crossmodel.txt).
The motivational lineage begins with Dietrich Dörner's "Psi" cognitive model. Psi centers on demands — physiological needs (food, water) and abstract needs (competence, certainty, affiliation) — each with a target range. When a demand deviates from its target, an urge develops to restore equilibrium. Behavior is modulated by four parameters: Activation, Resolution level, Certainty, and Selection threshold. Joscha Bach's MicroPsi embodied this in a serious software architecture.
Cai, Goertzel, and Geisweiller realized the Psi model within the OpenCog framework, mapping Psi's demands to goal atoms in the AtomSpace, modulators to continuous parameters, and pleasure/pain signals to reinforcement learning over Hebbian links. This proved its worth in early agents (virtual pets, robotics), but was mostly hand-tuned and essentially single-objective at decision time.
The decision side of MetaMo's pseudo-bimonad (\(D\) in \(F = D \circ \Psi\)) is not a Goertzel/Lian invention. The AGI 2025 second paper (Embodying Abstract Motivational Principles, §2 + conclusion, reference [8]) attributes MAGUS — the hierarchical decision/goal system — to Mikeda 2024, a separate Magi-side conceptual framework. MetaMo uses MAGUS as the decision monad in the bimonad coupling; it does not implement, replace, or extend MAGUS itself.
In MetaMo-Python,magus/decision.py the file contains class MagusDecision(DecisionMonad), but this is a compact reference class (scoring + goal-update logic) sufficient for demonstrating the bimonad coupling — not the full Magi Archive MAGUS framework. Wiki text describing MetaMo should say it uses or instantiates MAGUS as \(D\); it should not imply MetaMo authors created MAGUS, nor that the Python reference implements the complete Mikeda 2024 specification.
MetaMo evolves OpenPsi into a formally grounded, multi-objective framework, with MAGUS slotted in as the decision-monad component. The AGI 2025 paper positions MetaMo as sitting "one level higher as an abstract design language." Where OpenPsi had four hand-tuned modulators, MetaMo generalizes to a \(K\)-dimensional modulator vector governed by the appraisal comonad. Where OpenPsi selected actions by comparing urge magnitudes, MetaMo composes appraisal and decision via the pseudo-bimonad with checkable stability certificates.
The relationship is best read as MetaMo subsumes/extends OpenPsi at the formal layer — not replacement. OpenPsi's executable substrate (in hyperon-openpsiat3b356c5 HEAD ) operates as the operational predecessor; targeted searches for "MetaMo" / "MAGUS" / "individuation" / "transcendence" in that repo return zero matches, confirming hyperon-openpsi has not been re-authored as a MetaMo strict-literal implementation. The evolution preserves Psi's core insight — that motivation drives all goal-directed cognition — while providing the formal apparatus for safe self-modification, multi-agent coordination, and auditable decision-making.
Cluster-pilot extraction archive: scripts/archive/non_clustered_haa_pilot/source2_metamo_paper/.
The Non-clustered HAA cluster pilot Source 2 reconciliation locked a trilateral classification across the MetaMo-related repositories. Wiki text describing MetaMo implementations should distinguish formal-reference, heuristic-prototype, and predecessor-substrate roles rather than collapsing them as a single implementation:
3ec409b; ~33 commits, primary committer Nahom Senay). Compact reference implementation of the MetaMo categorical skeleton: MotivationalState (\(X = G \times M\)), AppraisalComonad + DecisionMonad ABCs, MetaMoPseudoBimonad composition, lax-distributive-law numeric check, parallel_merge, contractive update law, homeostatic damping, blend-states, and a research_assistant.py interactive demo with OpenPsiAppraisal + MagusDecision + TranslationFunctor. [IMPLEMENTATION-BACKED-CORE] at the skeleton level; [FORMAL-LAWS-PAPER-ONLY] for categorical proofs; no test suite per AGENTS.md:23. See Core Mechanisms and Formalism for file:line citations.engine.py. No formal categorical structure; targeted searches at HEAD for "bimonad" / "comonad" / "MAGUS" / "OpenPsi" return zero matches. Useful as a heuristic routing engine; NOT a duplicate of MetaMo-Python and NOT the categorical implementation. [HEURISTIC-PROTOTYPE].3b356c5; ~575 commits). Mature MeTTa OpenPsi implementation with traditional MindAgent + Demand/Modulator patterns and use cases (ping-pong, curious-agent with LLM integration, qwestor web API). NOT the primary MetaMo implementation at HEAD — targeted searches for "MetaMo" / "MAGUS" / "individuation" / "transcendence" return zero matches. Recent OpenPsi paper-alignment work (commit 01936f1, 2026-02-24) is OpenPsi-side, not MetaMo-side. [OPENPSI-PREDECESSOR-SUBSTRATE]; the operational substrate that MetaMo's appraisal comonad abstracts at one level higher.AGENTS.md:23 in MetaMo-Python)Cluster-pilot extraction archive: scripts/archive/non_clustered_haa_pilot/source2_metamo_paper/ (findings_codex.txt + findings_gemini.txt + findings_reconciled_crossmodel.txt). V2-1..V2-7 carry-forwards locked.
- Related cards: PLN Full (motivation-guided inference), ECAN Full (attention allocation), PRIMUS Full (goal management layer) - these cards are open for editing, but nothing is there
- [PAPER-LEANING-HYBRID] / [IMPLEMENTATION-BACKED-CORE] / [REFERENCE-IMPLEMENTATION-NOT-PRODUCTION] verdict against iCog-Labs-Dev/MetaMo-Pythonat3ec409b HEAD - link not found. + [titles] are confusing - what are they pointing to?
(OpenPsi-review, 2016) - link to paper would be nice. Also OpenPsi deserves its own page
The decision side of MetaMo's pseudo-bimonad (
D
D in
F
=
D
∘
Ψ
F=D∘Ψ) is not a Goertzel/Lian invention. The AGI 2025 second paper (Embodying Abstract Motivational Principles, §2 + conclusion, reference [8]) attributes MAGUS — the hierarchical decision/goal system — to Mikeda 2024 -
Mikeda and Watkins. Also a more correct way to say - not invention, but inspired by.. and link to Magus would be useful here
OpenPsi's executable substrate (in hyperon-openpsiat3b356c5 HEAD ) - leads to page not found