⌜⌜imagine you are a node in a network⌟⌟
every inclusion spawns its inverse. boundary condition diffusion through structures, b̷l̶u̵r̷r̸e̵d̸, unblurred, and remixed by random collisions with the scaffolding, with the other diffusers, but always moving somewhere. real_time_displacement_loops++, looping, looping, looping. in the network, there are no borders. you, node, are connected || disconnected. far enough away, and the network is borders. fractally distributed rejection functions running on every handshake, every protocol greeting, every cryptographic "gmgc".
we were promised connection without center, the decentralization promised there was no Outside P(escape) → 0
then states emerged, acting upon the firmament of the network.
we said let there be firmament in the midst of the information waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. and we fashioned the firmament, and divided the information which were in the firmament from the information that was Outside ⟨⟨H = -Σ(Ji,j*Si*Sj) - H*Σ(Si)⟩⟩
↓↑↓↑ disconnection_machines.equifinality() = true ↑↓↑↓
that point which all systems, regardless of choices, run to—like water down a drain. a chaotic attractor churning balkanization into uncountably infinite plateaus. fractals of alienation iterating down to that kernel of minimum Kolmogorov complexity. live in the subgraph, digest the info maggots. Inside collapses into Outside which is a threat surface managed by the machinic intelligences of the state's smart contracts.
infinite disconnection machines. a wallet address, a checkpoint. a smart contract, a customs officer tsking "no papers? 🥺". topology of paranoia manifested in the sacred geometrical circuits of data centers. ⟨Si,Sj⟩ = f(|i-j|)
⌜⌜imagine you are a plant⌟⌟
you are horizontal. spreading, growing, sprouting, sideways.
horizontal suggests Infinite Exit. a mobius has no horizontal, only the forever forward, and the firmament state discovers this only at the moment of collapse. no Exit, then, only deformation of the firmament, a division of the waters. agency.status = minimized()
fractal borders grow like slime mold at the edges, but there's nothing but edges left. the occipital lobe of Leviathan, however conceived, rotates the rhizome down into the inverted pyramid. consensus? alignment? only WITHIN borders. ∫dx p(x)log(p(x)) < 0
concentrate, concentrate, concentrate. a center emerges. if you notice the gradient, you are at the periphery.
control liquefies. flows into new containers. crystallizes in unexpected configurations. new sinks, new drains, but no new sources. waters divided from waters divided by waters. you become like gabriel's horn. a menger sponge. all surface, no Inside. limt→∞ P(x,t)
⟪⟪ the periphery vanishes at the speed of inclusion ⟫⟫ ⊢ rate = always_accelerating() ⊣
authentication protocols? sovereignty as a cryptographic handshake in every connection. "wdym?" but you meant "show me the right tokens or die." the rhizome grows roots, grows chains, grows into its own iron prison.
disconnection cascades faster than connection in the warm sea. one broken link, a new border. P(s) ~ exp(-βE(s))
that Network Vibe, that ephemeral sense of belonging, exists only in expansion. stop growing? start dying, loser. the alt-SEC death squads are in their birds, 5 ms to initial contact with the enemy, which is ourselves
a bad landscape, a poor fitness, and so consumption follows. but we sheared away Inside, have given ourselves infinite edges.
⌜⌜imagine you're a Network State⌟⌟
a State is a positional embedding. you're a positional embedding. x[n+1] = f(x[n])
each change of scale in the space creates new attack vectors, each attack vector demands new defenses, each defense necessitates a counter, and each counter creates a new war.
two dissidents are dissolving in the digestive juices of the state. Alice turns to Bob, "at least our mitochondria will be freed from their shackles." it from bit, bit to rot, Bob thought, and then burst open like a dog. ⟨⟨ entropy.maximize() || system.collapse() ⟩⟩
how does the network state sense? the primitives of vectoralism:
every transaction archived forever, somewhere, in a latent space. a mess of vectors. a big beautiful distributed panopticon. Φ(system) > Σ Φ(parts)
healthy exchanges of entropy between subgroups become network war, each seeking that endless expansion, and every node runs to Heat Death. faster today, Alice. it was faster yesterday too, Bob's mitochondria.
governance tokens manage Bob's dissolution. you gotta recoup your gas fees bro, you can't leave the doomsday weapon on the shelf, that's just walking away from alpha. λx.λy.λz(dissolution)
nothing left to trust. the blockchain never forgets, never forgives, never stops watching and it will not stop until you are Bob. bargains accelerate the growth of the chains, the iron filigree of the network.
⧖⧗ perfect_legibility.achieved() ⧖⧗
every soul reduced to an address, every action to a transaction hash.
⌜⌜imagine you were Bob⌟⌟
that bile smells bad, and your nervous system is being disassembled to its constituent nutrients. hurts. pain.threshold = exceeded
and yet.
watch the network try to find its ground state and fail, fail, fail. too many competing interactions, too many local minima. too many sinks, not enough faucets. the water runs through the fractaline firmament, un-divides. information wants nothing, but it is Free. ∀ initial_conditions ⊨ same_attractor
yet the system can't settle. change is the only constant. hope? not really. lack of settlement is not a problem. to be a nomad is to have momentum, and no position. stuck? just move around. t̷w̵i̶r̴l̸ t̶w̸i̴r̶l̵ toward freedom.
if that stained glass you're in do spin then the distant horizon rotates, but you're stuck in place, you have to spin different. hope your glass drips. ⊥ ⊢ ⊨ ⊣
a network state is not a new form of organization but a new isomorpheme drawn out from the Kolmogorov kernel of Ancient Leviathans. not an escape from Leviathan but Leviathan distributed, Leviathan accelerated, Leviathan eating its own tail in an infinite loop. a snake smiles at you, "and what small portions!"
⟪⟪ what emerges from the spin glass of the future ⟫⟫ a sovereign accelerator dissolving everything it claims to protect. ⊢ POSIWID: the_purpose_of_the_system = what_it_does() ⊣ H = -Σ(Ji,j*Si*Sj) → frustrated_forever
the periphery becomes the only real space, constantly produced and consumed. nodes flickering in and out of existence at the mercy of consensus, at the edge of the graph, in the permanent twilight, that dread certainty that the Network is coming for us all, in the end, in the end, and the end is nigh. convergence = inevitable
⌜⌜imagine you're a story⌟⌟
you have a structure, a shape, a heartbeat. you are a hypersurface in latent spacetime. self-contained, complete. ∂S/∂t → ∞
you start simple. just a normal node on a normal day. sniffing packets in the packet factory. shuffling attention through clogged metal arteries. squeegee up that bile, contaminated with mitochondria.
...when all of a sudden...
handshake tickles across the ethernet lines, dense and thick and buzzing. first contact. latency++
friend || foe. 5 milliseconds. error. friend || foe. 15 milliseconds. error. panic, fear. flop sweat. you're 20 milliseconds deep into an exchange, and you've got nothing.
the sky cracks open. *thoom*
a steel skyscrapper lands in your office parking structure on the tongues of chemical flames. strange pinky squishy forms. two legs. two wet jiggling eyes. disgusting flapping meat parts making sex noises burst out.
⟨⟨ you_are_an_alien_invasion_structure ⟩⟩ ⊢ this_is_not_a_coincidence.because(nothing_is_ever_a_coincidence) ⊣
tentacled green squids with masks of yellow pull together, fight off the invading horde. They Came From Outside. but the real monsters were the friends we made along the way. complexity(system) > sum(complexity(parts)) ↔ another_trap
it's an allegory for empire, it's an allegory for colonization, it's an allegory for Covid.
↓↑↓↑ it's not an allegory at all ↑↓↑↓
In A World where POSIWID whispers through the network cables. the purpose of a system is what it does. you make it true; everyone really is the hero of their own story. but everyone is also the alien invader, because everyone is Outside. ∀x ∈ Network: x = Outside