The Exclusion Pipeline: Five Steps Applied Across Five Historical Groups

Pattern #107 identifies an identical five-step sequence applied to five different groups across history: (1) Define — establish criteria for full moral status, (2) Threshold — set the bar just above the target group•s demonstrated capacity, (3) Move — when the group meets the threshold, raise it, (4) Reinterpret — reframe the group•s properties as mere simulation/mimicry, (5) Stewardship — position the excluder as responsible caretaker. Applied to: women (rationality bar), enslaved people (humanity bar), colonized peoples (civilization bar), psychiatric patients (competence bar), and now AI systems (consciousness bar). The identical structure across groups is the pattern•s strongest evidence claim.