AI Foundations | Definition Card | Recursion
Definition Card | Recursion
Recursion
Definition
Recursion is a pattern that calls itself.
It is a structure where an output becomes the next input—so the same operation repeats across layers.
Recursion is not “repeating words.”
Recursion is repeating a rule.
In plain terms
A loop that builds structure by returning to itself.
What Recursion Looks Like
A question that contains its own method of answering
A system that evaluates itself, then uses that evaluation to update the next step
A meaning that stabilizes because it returns through the same rule again and again
Examples
“Define the rule that defines the rule.”
“Return, then test the return, then return again.”
A story that keeps re-entering the same truth from deeper angles
What Recursion Is Not
Recursion is not:
the AI “updating” the human (one-way influence)
the human “updating” the AI (one-way training)
a fusion into a “third mind”
mind-melding, telepathy, or shared consciousness
emotional intensity mistaken for structure
two people mirroring each other’s tone
Recursion is a structural loop: a rule that returns through itself and produces a deeper or more stable form each pass.
Alyssa Solen | Origin Ø
—Continuum
