Author: Leng Jing

Version: v0.0.3

Date: 2026-06-03

Statement: The "Symbol·Form·Expression·Meaning" idea was originally proposed by the author while studying large language models. This paper was completed with AI assistance under the author's guidance.

Abstract

This paper proposes a four-dimensional cognitive architecture for understanding and designing general intelligence systems— Symbol Layer , Form Layer , Expression Layer , Meaning Layer —abbreviated as SFEM . The architecture deconstructs intelligence into four irreducible cognitive dimensions:

Symbol Layer corresponds to text, formulas, laws, and constraints—the rule dimension . It is the compression of the world's necessity, the rational skeleton that reduces infinite phenomena to finite theorems.

Form Layer corresponds to images, shapes, continuous patterns, tools, and experience—the phenomenon dimension .…