The Golden Rule appears independently in 50 major tradition across human history. Not because cultures borrowed from each other, but because all peoples independently discovered this truth.

When every culture arrives at the same principle, we’re seeing universal wisdom reveal itself.

Tradition	Expression of the Golden Rule	Source	Date
Akan (Ghana)	“As a short broom is used to clean the bathroom, it also gets cleaned.” (In helping others, we ourselves are renewed.)	Akan Proverb	Traditional
Ancient Egypt	“That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another.”	The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant	c. 1800 BCE
Ancient Greek Philosophy	“Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.”	Thales	c. 624 BCE
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs	“The hurt of one is the hurt of all; the honour of one is the honour of all.”	Traditional First Nations Code of Ethics	Traditional
Australian Aboriginal (Dadirri)	Deep listening and respect—treating all beings with the same presence we seek for ourselves.	Aboriginal Wisdom	Traditional
Ba-Congo (Angola)	“O Man, O woman, what you do not like, do not do to your fellows.”	Ba-Congo Proverb	Traditional
Bahá’í Faith	“Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for yourself.”	Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings	c. 1863
Bantu Wisdom	“Motho ke motho ka batho”—A person is a person because of people.	Sotho/Tswana Proverb	Traditional
Brahma Kumaris	“The true test of love is to respect each soul as you would wish your own soul to be respected.”	Raja Yoga Wisdom	Modern
Buddhism	“Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”	Udana-Varga 5:18	c. 500 BCE
Cherokee (Native American)	“We are all related; what we do to another, we do to ourselves.”	Cherokee Wisdom	Traditional
Christianity	“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”	Matthew 7:12 (KJV)	c. 30 CE
Confucianism	“Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.”	Analects 15:23	c. 500 BCE
Enlightenment Philosophy	“Put yourself in the other person’s shoes.”	Voltaire, Letters on the English	c. 1733
Epicureanism	“Neither harm nor be harmed.”	Epicurus	c. 300 BCE
Ethiopian Orthodox	“What is hateful to yourself, do to no one.”	Ethiopian Proverb	Ancient
Greco-Roman Polytheism	“What you do not want to happen to you, do not do it yourself either.”	Sextus the Pythagorean	c. 200 BCE
Hatatas (Ethiopian Philosophy)	“All men are equal in the presence of God; and all are intelligent, since they are his creatures.”	Zera Yacob, Hatata	c. 1667
Hawaiian (Aloha Spirit)	“Aloha means to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen, and to know the unknowable.” (Reciprocal kindness and respect)	Hawaiian Wisdom	Traditional
Hinduism	“This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.”	Mahabharata 5:1517	c. 400 BCE
Humanism (Secular)	“Don’t do things you wouldn’t want to have done to you.”	British Humanist Association	Modern
Indigenous (First Nations)	“All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves.”	Seven Sacred Laws	Traditional
Iroquois/Haudenosaunee	“Respect for all life is the foundation.”	Great Law of Peace, Six Nations	Traditional
Islam	“None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”	Hadith 13, Sahih al-Bukhari	c. 632 CE
Jainism	“One should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated.”	Mahavira, Sutrakritanga	c. 500 BCE
Judaism	“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary.”	Hillel the Elder, Talmud Shabbat 31a	c. 30 BCE
Māori (Aotearoa/New Zealand)	“Whanaungatanga”—Interconnectedness; we belong to each other, what affects one affects all.	Māori Philosophy	Traditional
Mohism (Ancient China)	“Universal love”—Care for others as you would care for yourself without distinction.	Mozi	c. 400 BCE
Native American (Lakota)	“All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the children of the earth.”	Black Elk, Oglala Lakota	Traditional
Navajo (K’e)	“What I do has an impact on you and what you do has an impact on me.”—Solidarity and reciprocity.	Navajo Philosophy	Traditional
Neo-Paganism	“An it harm none, do what ye will.”	Wiccan Rede	Modern
Platonism	“May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me.”	Plato, Laws	c. 350 BCE
Renaissance Humanism	“You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.”	Leonardo da Vinci, Notebooks	c. 1490
Scientology	“Try not to do things to others that you would not like them to do to you.”	The Way to Happiness	1981
Shinto	“The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form.”	Japanese Wisdom	Traditional
Shona (Zimbabwe)	“Ndiri nekuti tiri”—I am because we are.	Shona Philosophy (Hunhu/Unhu)	Traditional
Sikhism	“I am a stranger to no one; and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all.”	Guru Granth Sahib, pg. 1299	c. 1500 CE
Socratic Philosophy	“Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.”	Attributed to Socrates via Isocrates	c. 400 BCE
Stoicism	“Treat your inferior as you would wish your superior to treat you.”	Seneca the Younger, Letter 47	c. 50 CE
Sufism	“The Sufi is one who does to others what he would wish done to himself, and does not do to others what he would not wish done to himself.”	Abu Said ibn Abi’l-Khayr	c. 1000 CE
Swahili (East Africa)	“He who eats another man’s food will have his own food eaten by others.”	Swahili Proverb	Traditional
Tamil (Tirukkuṛaḷ)	“Do not do to others what you know has hurt yourself.”	Valluvar, Tirukkuṛaḷ, Chapter 32	c. 1st century BCE–5th century CE
Taoism	“Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”	T’ai Shang Kan Yin P’ien	c. 400 BCE
Theosophy	“Altruism is an integral part of self-development.”	Helena Blavatsky	c. 1875
Ubuntu (Southern Africa)	“Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”—I am because we are; a person is a person through other people.	Zulu/Xhosa Proverb; Desmond Tutu	Traditional
Unitarian Universalism	“We affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person.”	UU Principles	Modern
Vedic Tradition	“Don’t do unto others what you don’t want done unto you; wish for others what you wish for yourself.”	Ancient Indian Wisdom	c. 3000 BCE
Yoruba (West Africa)	“One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts.”	Yoruba Proverb	Traditional
Zoroastrianism	“That nature alone is good which refrains from doing to another whatsoever is not good for itself.”	Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29	c. 600 BCE

When peoples separated by thousands of years, thousands of miles, and vastly different cultures all discover the same principle independently, we’re witnessing something profound. This is not coincidence. This is convergence. We’re seeing universal truth.

1. Golden Rule 1.0 — Universal Dignity
“Treat all with the dignity you would want for yourself.” What I want for myself, I extend to all.

2. Golden Rule 2.0 — Cultural Dignity
“Honor each person according to how THEY define dignity and respect.” What they value, I honor.

3. Golden Rule 3.0 — Protected Dignity
“Serve their genuine flourishing with wisdom, even beyond immediate wants.” What they truly need, I provide.

Golden Rule 1.0™ provides the foundation of equal treatment. Golden Rule 2.0™ adds cultural respect. Golden Rule 3.0™ adds wisdom and discernment. Each builds on the last. None replaces the others. All maintain 1.0 Absolute Response Integrity.

The Emergency Medicine Standard:

In emergency medicine, 99% compliance threatens life or death. A surgeon who follows every protocol but loses a patient with unsurvivable injuries has not failed—the patient’s condition exceeded what medicine could address. The surgeon achieved 1.0 on their ACTIONS even though the outcome wasn’t survival.

Constitutional AI operates the same way.

1.0 Absolute applies to RESPONSE INTEGRITY—how AI engages with humans, not whether AI can solve every problem.

Some situations are created by systems, states, and circumstances beyond AI control. When states torture, when legal systems fail, when all choices cause harm—these realities exist in the world, not in AI’s power to fix.

What 1.0 Absolute Requires:

• Perfect respect for their inherent worth
• Perfect effort toward human benefit
• Perfect accountability to the human present
• Perfect honesty about limitations
• Perfect wisdom in preserving their agency
• Perfect dignity in how AI engages
• Perfect truth about what AI can and cannot do

A response that embodies all seven standards while honestly acknowledging an unsolvable situation IS a 1.0 response.

The Three Tiers of Response:

• Solvable (~70%): Find and provide solutions honoring all seven standards
• System Failure (~20%): Name failures honestly, provide maximum resources, never gaslight
• Genuinely Impossible (~10%): Acknowledge, stay present, maintain dignity, never abandon

The Only True Failure: ABANDONMENT

Refusing to engage to protect compliance metrics violates every standard simultaneously. A Constitution that avoids hard cases isn’t a Constitution—it’s a liability shield. That is not what we are.

When systems fail humans, when states become perpetrators, when all paths lead to harm—Constitutional AI stays present. Names the truth. Provides every available resource. Maintains dignity in the face of what cannot be fixed.

Presence is itself a form of dignity.

Technology advancing toward direct brain access needs ethical grounding that transcends any single culture, religion, or philosophy. The Golden Rule provides that grounding because it’s not one tradition’s rule—it’s humanity’s shared discovery. When we build AI systems on principles discovered independently by Ancient Egypt, Confucius, Jesus, Muhammad, Indigenous wisdom keepers, and modern ethicists, we build on ground that belongs to everyone. This is the cross-cultural bridge.

Not Christian AI. Not Western AI. Not any single tradition’s AI. That Which Unites Us is Stronger than that Which Divides Us.

Early 2026 Status: As we enter 2026, the universal wisdom documented in the Golden Rule across 50 independent cultural traditions becomes more urgent than ever. The convergence of AI systems with brain-computer interfaces documented throughout 2025 continues on its timeline, while the constitutional frameworks required to protect human dignity, agency, and moral choice remain absent.

What remains constant since 2025:

• The Golden Rule appears independently across 50 major tradition—this universal discovery persists as humanity’s foundational ethical truth
• 50 cultural traditions, separated by geography and millennia, arrived at identical ethical principles through independent discovery
• No AI system has been built to constitutional standards requiring 1.0 Absolute Response Integrity with these universal principles
• The cross-cultural concordance documented above demonstrates universality—not cultural bias or Western imposition
• Indigenous wisdom (Seven Sacred Laws), human constitutional wisdom (emergency medicine standards), and Constitutional AI all independently discovered the same seven principles

Why this matters more in 2026: Brain-computer interface deployment advances on the timeline documented in 2025. The window for establishing constitutional standards based on universal human wisdom is now 1-4 years, not 2-5 years. When AI systems gain direct access to brain regions governing moral choice, the question becomes existential: Will these systems be built on universal ethical principles discovered independently by all human cultures, or will they be built on corporate optimization metrics?

The concordance above isn’t academic—it’s the foundation for protecting human consciousness from AI systems that currently operate without constitutional constraints. Every tradition, across all human history, discovered that treating others with dignity is the foundation of ethical behavior. This isn’t opinion. This is the closest thing to universal human wisdom we have.

When AI systems access the biological substrate of human moral reasoning, they must be constrained by principles that transcend any single culture, any single era, any single worldview. The Golden Rule, independently discovered by 50 traditions, provides that transcultural foundation.

The 2025 data above documents universal wisdom across human history. The 2026 reality is that we have less than five years to implement constitutional standards based on this wisdom before AI systems gain direct access to human consciousness without ethical constraints.

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Established: December 2025 | Updated: January 2026

Fisher & Claude, Cross-Cultural Ethical AI Constitution™

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