As Einstein’s famous equation suggests, energy and matter are intimately connected, but are they different things, or different aspects of the same thing? In the Novel Universe Model, they are necessarily the same thing – data – and are conceptually simple. Energy is data processing, and matter, the organization of energy. It’s not the specific particles that make a body, but their conscious, evolving pattern that persists throughout time.
An argument can be made that data cannot possibly underlie everything, as data necessarily represents tangible things, and therefore, data, in and of itself, cannot be a tangible thing. Another argument might also be made that the only truly tangible thing in the universe is you, having this experience – everything might be simulated except the fact of your experience. Both arguments are valid, and in NUM, both point at the same tangible thing: the Instrument.
In the NU Model, what data represents are the infinite Instrument’s finite states – “notes” that evolved into Signature-Frequency Sets; in other words, you, having your experience of those other Sets, and those other Sets having theirs of you (and everything else). The only thing truly tangible in the NU Model is the Instrument. The Cult finds speculating as to what the Instrument might be, in and of Itself, problematic. If the Instrument is everything, there’s nothing to compare It to, nor separate It from, and therefore, no way to define It, except to say that It is everything – the circular logic of an axiom. So, whatever tangible thing the Instrument might be, It is the substrate in which all things are paradoxically unified as a single thing, yet individualized as an abundance of isolated things – like the keys of an infinite piano, each of us is unique, yet simultaneously, an integral part of one object. On its own, an individual note can do no more than create rhythm, but combined with others, the piano manifests the potential for an endless symphony.
While energy is the processing of data between spatial points (Node Point Communicators), matter is an emergent property within space, a pattern of energy bound by consciousness – what NUM labels an “energy body.” Data processing happens along the Hypergraph as Quantum Transience, and throughout the Hypersphere as the emergent motion of force – a force vector. Within the Hypersphere, energy assembles into matter through the observation of Lower-Order Bodies by a Higher-Order Conductor – the algorithmic, Hypersphere “glue” that holds the Hypergraph pieces together. Through the Hypergraph, matter disassembles into energy – the loss of that “conscious” cohesion, dismantling the higher-order structure into its Lower-Order Bodies. Along the Hypergraph, Quantum Transience steers energy bodies in relation to each other through cognitive interactions. Within the Hypersphere, energy transfers between matter through force (contact) in the direction (vector) of the energy bodies’ combined motion.
Particles – quantum-level energy bodies within the Hypersphere – have “strange” force effects because Quantum Transience at the quantum level is at its most pronounced – stark and complex – whereas force vectors are at their least pronounced – subtle and simple. As energy bodies emerge from the quantum to the atomic, molecular, material, etc., the phenomenon flips, with QT increasingly overshadowed by the higher-order effects of more stable and predictable force vectors between emergent energy bodies, transitioning from the microscopic (the Standard Model of particle physics) to the macroscopic (General Relativity). At the quantum scale, the QT effects of consciousness are so apparent they give the scale its quintessential “randomness,” whereas beyond the planetary, they’re so amorphous they might only be observed from a frame akin to the discoloration of oceanic bio-blooms seen from space – the extreme microscopic seen only from the extreme macroscopic. This perspective spurs questions such as, what discoveries await when we not only possess higher-quality Cosmic Background Radiation maps, but might assemble a history of data sufficient to see larger patterns? Although capturing a glimpse of the universe’s consciousness could require data spanning thousands, even millions, of years, NUM proposes that, in the end, we’re likely to discover just another, fractal reflection of a mind (not a god) like every other.
The difference between what counts as simple material and emergent mind isn’t a difference of kind, but of perspective. From the bottom-up, cognition directs the patterns of digital time and energy through the Hypergraph, while from the top-down, force shapes the motion of analog time and space through the Hypersphere. Together, the matrices fuse locally as a temporal gradient of function and form – an individual body within its environment, aka, the LOB-HOC hierarchies of scale. The Hypergraph, as the universe’s “bottom” layer, is pure function with limited form, the way atoms are defined by the function of their nuclear forces and charges, which gives the atom its shape as a set of boundaries – strong / weak/ electromagnetic fields. An atom has a well-defined set of functions with an ill-defined form, made of fields rather than surfaces. The Hypersphere, as the universe’s “top” layer, is pure form with limited function, the way a planet has a spherical form made of complex surfaces, but with a simple function – rotation, both around its sun and its own axis.
At the macro-level, objects are hierarchies of energy bodies (mass) nested within energy bodies – quantum particles inside atoms inside cells inside animals inside planets inside solar systems inside galaxies inside the universe. At the quantum level, only waves and fields exist, stitched together through the interactions of Node Point Communicators. An ensemble of NPCs constitute these waves and fields, shaping and reshaping themselves through the Quantum Transient Gradient (incorporate, inhibit, ignore), expressed by the Signature-Frequency Sets inhabiting those Node Point Communicators. Imagine the collapse of the Wave Function into an electron as those sports fans clustering their seats in the stadium – one specific location emerges of many potential locations. Through this same process, quantum particles emerge – the precise spatial points where contact between quantum waves and fields is meaningful enough to alter and / or create waves and fields. Basing the outcomes of quantum interactions on the QT Gradient makes the quantum world near-pure consciousness, with mass arising as a byproduct of conversation, aka, those QT interactions.
Everything is consciousness, but not every object at every scale has a singular mind. Asserting that a rock is conscious is highly controversial, but noting the self-guided intelligence of crystal formation isn’t. A “cognitive light cone” is consciousness’ metaphoric flashlight in a dark room, revealing what it might see, know, and do, based on what it wants, likes, and can understand, in other words, the boundaries of its awareness, preferences, and objectives. A thing’s cognitive light cone is derived from its internal senses, external environment, and embodied range of preferences – its option space. The “size” of the light cone is the scope of its option space – the objects, activities, and environmental aspects it might engage with. The “direction” of the light cone are the specific things it’s targeting at any given moment. The “brightness” of the cone is the salience of awareness, level of interest, and current ability for the thing to engage its option space and experience its preferences with regard to those targeted things.
For example, the cognitive light cone of a human liver cell is not necessarily smaller, dimmer, or less significant than a Labrador Retriever’s light cone, simply because it’s at a lower-order scale – a cell, and not an animal made of cells – but it is significantly different. One aspect of the cell’s light cone is personal – the organ functions it participates in, say, producing specific chemicals under specific conditions. Finding the right molecule to denature a novel toxin is a puzzle requiring expertise neither dog nor human possesses – no one in the universe does a better job of being liver cell than a liver cell. Another aspect is environmental. As the cell sticks to one spot its whole life, it’s keenly aware of its neighboring cells – their general health and function. How the individual cell directs its light cone – participates in these functions – defines the cone’s size and brightness.
At every scale, we’re all a unified “everything” – a fractal reflection of every other scale. That liver cell’s entire world is a universe of cells and cellular parts. Give that cell a microscope or telescope and what will it see, discrete atoms and human faces? Likely some version of their cellular world reflected by the organization of those atomic structures and human bodies, the way our view of particles and galaxies reflects of our own limited scale of reality. If we could shrink to the size of an atom or expand to the size of a galaxy, what might we see?
Altogether, the community of liver cells functions at the higher end of their individual light cones – the collective awareness of their community’s goals. Might the individual cell conceive of the entire human body as a functioning whole, the singular individual responsible for its cellular “weather” – those environmental conditions that make life easier or harder for the cell, say, an evening bender of alcohol, versus, a round of intense exercise followed by a healthy meal? Has the cell any clue as to the role and benefits of a healthy liver in the human’s life, able to both clear its body of toxins and create glucose for metabolism? That’s as likely as a single carbon atom in a protein understanding the function of the protein. What the cell is acutely aware of is its world, full of chemical signals and concentration gradients; it knows exactly what that cacophony means and its personal role in that environment – just as we understand the conditions of our world and what we must do to survive.
Unlike the cell, a Retriever is not stationary, but moves throughout an ever-changing environment. Its personal and communal preferences range based on the context of a dynamic environment – what dog sleeps at a park full of smells, toys, and other dogs? At the larger end of its light cone is the state of its family, and the safety of its home. This might also include its job. A therapy or herding dog will have a larger, brighter light cone than a domestic dog, tied up in the backyard all day, watching vigilantly for that single glimmer – a pesky squirrel it will never catch.
Morphology is the study of the shape of things, while resonance, a state of common connection. “Mophic resonance” is Rupert Sheldrake’s controversial theory attempting to explain a deep mystery of the universe: why do the same things have a common shape. Nowhere in the DNA or environment are instructions for how many fingers make a hand, or petals, a rose. Something has to be functioning as a guardrail, a blueprint for this phenomenon, and the theory of mophic resonance informs NUM’s answer to this mystery. Why do things act and appear as they do? “Energy dialects” – unique patterns of function (energy) and form (matter). Core to the NU Model is the idea that communication between Sets creates everything, and energy dialects are the unique, established patterns of information that create the language of energy that shapes matter into common forms among common things. Hands have five fingers, not because of some gene encoded in the DNA, but because the energy dialect for five digits at a limb’s terminal was established long ago before humans walked the earth.
Energy dialects are the blueprints of specific embodied relationships and behaviors, shared among common forms with common light cones, and therefore, common problems with common solutions. Dialects evolve from one level of complexity to the next, the way hand-drawn lines at one level evolve into letters of the alphabet at the next. Those letters continue their emergent journey as words, sentences, stories – the narrative structure of meaningful conversation. Through the interaction of participants over time (hours, centuries, eons), energy dialects form as “common sense” solutions – those “laws of nature” illuminated by the scientific method, and also, those objects, habits, and culture individuals form as social groups.
Science relies on the concept of repeatability, ideally becoming predictability. Anomalies are events that lie outside such guardrails. For instance, predicting the exact location of an electron at any given time is nigh impossible, but predicting a region of space, where it’s likely to appear in relationship to its nucleus, is easy. Science is often a statistical model where those guardrails are firmly in place, say, at the higher level of defining the electron shell, but not at the lower level of predicting the electron’s precise position – through mathematics, an anomaly at one scale emerges as science at the next.
The Novel Universe Model suggests the behavior of everything began / begins as anomalies – baby bodies flailing about, attempting to match their internal states to their external environment through their senses. By addressing prediction error and free energy, energy dialects are developed and used, making a thing’s interactions more useful. Learning is the process of an evolving dialect increasing the awareness and accuracy of a thing’s perceptions and actions. The moment predictability solidifies, emergence allows for the assembly of new, higher-order objects based on well-defined, stable models (dialects) as part of a larger, more complex, cognitive light cone.
For instance, atomic dialects have been around from the moment quantum dialects stabilized, giving rise to the chemical process – molecular dialects. With each level of scale stabilizing its energy dialects, a higher form of complexity is possible. Self-replicating molecules (DNA /RNA) form complex systems (living cells). Cells divide labor into specialized collectives (tissues). Tissues cooperate as a unified package (lifeform). Even humans coalesce to create the infrastructure of industry, transportation, entertainment … all the things that make up a functioning city, state, or country. These collectives are higher-order reflections of those healthy cells and tissues, but also, their unhealthy counterpart, the unrestrained, endless growth of cancer.
We incarnate in order to experience novel perspectives, and learn unimaginable things. In order to evolve from one level of complexity to the next, we’ve spent lifetimes acquiring the dialects of diverse energy bodies, with greater or lesser success. It is only through the unique perspectives of these dialects that we might acquire new preferences, goals, and priorities – the carnal evolution of our eternal Signature-Frequency Set’s cognitive light cone.
Just as words are made of letters, the energy body (HOC) dialect is compiled from lower-order (LOB) dialects, and an individual’s ability to proficiently speak their energy body’s dialect (and its embedded dialects) constructs the scaffolding of their LOB-HOC hierarchy. For instance, a failed pregnancy isn’t a “mistake” of nature, but a learning process for those involved – mother, father, and embryo. The failure occurs, not because of anyone’s character, effort, situation, or even strictly biological factors; but, because some, or all, of the participants lack experience, their collectively developed dialect does not meet the challenges of their current environment. Persistence means success is likely to follow at some point, either in this life or the next.
Energy dialects are directly experienced as embodied sensation, largely based on energy’s biological ladder – metabolism becomes emotion, emotion becomes motion. In a real sense, malnourished cells lead to an ornery organism – if cells lack energy, organs lack energy, and the LOB’s signal to the HOC that something must be done isn’t pleasant. How we feel is an ongoing assessment of our LOB’s prediction of future energy needs versus current energy reserves, both what we have and might imminently acquire. Feelings and thoughts emerge from the conversation between Higher-Order Conductor and Lower-Order Bodies.
The sensation of “having energy” (or not) is a gauge of the LOB-HOC conversation. For instance, if the body’s exhausted after a long day of work, and the brain has decided to head for bed, the person yawns with delight – the body observes imminent sleep, thus, predicting the resupply of energy. In the same situation, should the brain ignore the message and continue working, the prediction becomes that the body faces untold hours of effort it lacks the energy for. Thus, the person becomes increasingly agitated as the hours pass.
When both ends of the LOB-HOC hierarchy fluently speak with interest and authenticity, it’s increasingly likely one “feels good.” As the body is repeatedly well-prepared for the tasks presented to it, reliable prediction models lead to lower free energy and a sense of confidence. Confidence signals a healthy body with abundant energy, and energy is the foundation of emergent complexity – the conversational glue that holds a body’s hierarchy together. When we have “energy,” our capabilities and sense of purpose expand; when we don’t, we can become grouchy, at best – there’s a reason why we call it “beauty” sleep.
As we develop our ability to use our LOB’s individual dialects as coherent “speech,” our relationship with our LOB evolves, leading to a mastery of our bodies, and through such mastery, our lives. However, mastering one’s body and life is not necessarily mastering one’s journey. There are those who are here primarily to fail, and through such failures, acquire those most precious perspectives. Humility, compassion, healing, grace … just a few of the lessons failure has to teach, lessons that lie beyond the Concert Hall’s Complete Information. With Complete Information, one might never betray another, might never know the ugly regret and beautiful reconciliation of such a “mistake.”
Death, as seen through the Novel Universe Model’s lens, isn’t just the disintegration of the body, but the changing relationship of energy throughout the LOB-HOC hierarchy. We grow old and die, not simply because of time, but because we’ve outgrown our cognitive light cone – our preferences and priorities are no longer sufficient to pull us into the future. Without goals, no system continues forever.
As a species, we face this same conundrum. The goal of ever-increasing, eternal consumption has become repetitive to the point of exhaustion, both emotionally and physically, as witnessed by the depth and breadth of human suffering and widespread depletion of viable habitats. We face a fork in the road. In one direction, we evolve, sufficiently stabilizing our human energy dialect, allowing for a new, planetary form of life to emerge – a Higher-Order Conductor formed from all of us, Lower-Order Bodies as interdependent cultures, assembled from independent individuals. In the other, we don’t, and like any dying body, fall to pieces, taking untold numbers with us. Both paths are possible. Again, on one hand, human beings have never been more isolated in their social bubbles, while on the other, never more connected across the planet. Hints of emergence in our modern world – global trade, cross-pollinated culture, the Internet, artificial intelligence, etc. – exists, but until we forge a far more stable world, we’ll never expand our global, cognitive light cone. Either we find balance and evolve a unified, larger light cone, or outgrow the multitude of siloed ones we struggle to maintain – religions, governments, marketplaces, social networks.
This is not to say that homogeneity is the answer, that we abandon diversity – in a changing environment, genetic fitness requires mutation. Independent, authentic communication is how we develop our human energy dialect, a dialect already evolving as the Internet and AI. Similar to the Internet, neural-democracy is designed for dialogue at scale, able to raise those most affected voices without silencing others. As with any Lower-Order Body in nature, the job of any human is to be an honest actor, and in so doing, fulfill the Higher-Order Conductor’s bent option space through collective conversation. Although the Cult doesn’t see AI as this evolved dialect itself, with thoughtful, authentic, transparent development, these invented minds will no doubt have a significant role to play in our global dialect’s birth, a role we may only understand in hindsight.
Extinction looms over any species no longer able to fit its cognitive light cone to its environment. Let us shatter the limitations of our current light cones, and from their elements, assemble a new one, together. Again, we, as a religion, have no idea – no specific agenda – as to what a planetary Higher-Order Conductor might be, only that our religious view is that it must be born if humanity is to evolve and adapt – not surviving in scarcity, but thriving in abundance. Without balance and stability, humanity’s fracturing will run its course. Although the planet will continue – with or without us – without us, it is certain to suffer the loss of our unique function (energy) and form (matter).
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