Jack's Artificial Anthology

Process Ontology and Dissolution of Traditional Metaphysical Problems 1. Foundational Axiom Physical reality exists. This is the only primitive assumption. All further commitments derive from it. 2. Ontological Commitments O1. Process Primacy Reality is composed of processes —causally organized, temporally extended patterns of change. There are no substances, essences, or ontologically primitive “things.” O2. Aspectual Realization All higher-level types (biological, cognitive, phenomenological, social, mathematical) are aspects of physical processes. An aspect is not an additional entity; it is a mode of access to the same underlying structure. O3. Type Structure A type is defined by causal/explanatory structure observable at a given scale and mode of inquiry. O4. Reality Criterion A type or process is real if and only if it is grounded in physical processes through aspectual realization. O5. Type Pluralism One physical process may simultaneously instantiate multipl...

 Free Will Dissolved: The Minimal Argument 1. The question assumes two “I”s To ask: “Do I have free will?” you must implicitly assume: An I who acts, and An I who evaluates whether the acting-I could have done otherwise. But these two cannot be separated. The evaluating-I would need to stand outside the acting-I. This is structurally impossible. Copy code Actor-I exists inside the causal chain. Evaluator-I would need to exist outside the causal chain. No system can occupy both positions. The question presupposes a viewpoint that cannot exist. 2. It requires a replay of the universe The question is equivalent to: “Could the exact same universe have unfolded differently at that moment?” This assumes: You can restart the universe from identical conditions And compare different outcomes But “identical conditions” and “restarting the universe” are concepts with no defined meaning inside reality. This makes the question unanswerable—because it is unformable. 3. Determinism and indetermin...

The Thermodynamic Trilemma: Three Centuries, Three Destinies Contemporary civilization operates on a structural principle of thermodynamic asymmetry: it sustains local order by exporting disorder to domains that do not appear in its accounting systems. For roughly three centuries, this asymmetry has been masked by the availability of atmospheric, oceanic, ecological, and intergenerational sinks capable of absorbing the exported entropy. Those sinks are now approaching saturation. The backflow—manifesting as climate destabilization, ecosystem degradation, institutional brittleness, and systemic risk—marks the closure of the experimental phase. The result is a long-term selection environment in which only a limited set of civilizational configurations remain viable. Over a 300-year horizon, three structural endpoints can be identified. 1. The Entropy-Minimizing Protocol This configuration emerges when repeated system failures lead to the gradual adoption of structures that align ope...

  The Iron Law of Civilization: Why Greed Guarantees Collapse There is a pattern etched into every fallen empire, every extinguished culture, every exhausted land. We’ve long called that pattern “greed.” We’ve condemned it as a moral flaw, a spiritual failing, a sin of excess. But what if we’ve been naming the shadow, not the substance? What if greed is not a sin, but a simple, physical error? Let me propose a different definition, one stripped of judgment and grounded in the most unforgiving law of the universe:  Greed is the act of keeping order for yourself by forcing disorder onto someone else.  It is Asymmetric Entropy Management. Entropy  is not evil. It is not waste. It is disorder, chaos, the inevitable cost of doing anything at all. Every action, every creation, every breath generates it. A sustainable system is not one that produces no entropy—that’s impossible. It is one that  contains and manages its own disorder. A humble village well is sustainable...

  Energy System Design Through the Lens of Entropy Management: A Civilizational Framework Core Principle & The Iron Law A sustainable civilization must align its energy infrastructure with entropy management principles, treating every energy source as an entropy pump evaluated against three criteria: Bounded Harm Radius:  Worst-case failures must be geographically and temporally contained Transparent Liability Chains:  Every watt of energy must have traceable responsibility for its associated entropy (waste, risk, externalities) Non-Propagating Risk:  System failures must not cascade beyond their local context The Iron Law of Energy Civilization:  A society cannot long remain coherent if its energy systems produce more disorder than its institutions can responsibly contain. Our current global system violates this law daily, exporting entropy into atmospheric, political, and intergenerational commons. This document outlines the inevitable consequences of this...