As Above, So Below

This is my idea of the universe. We're the observers.

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Book Structure

Book Structure

Part I: The Ground

Chapter 1: Introduction (User's voice)

• The Claim (wool/sweater metaphor)
• How to Read This (formal/interlude rhythm)
• What This Isn't / What This Is

Chapter 2: Embeddedness and Causality (Formal + Interludes)

• Premise 1: Embeddedness — Definition, Consequences, Why No One Argues
• Interlude I: Echoes of Embeddedness — Physics, Markets, Theology
• Premise 2: Causality — Definition, Consequences, Why No One Argues
• Interlude II: Echoes of Causality — Control Theory, Supply Chains, Theology
• Half-Derivation: PAUSE → FETCH

Chapter 3: Incompleteness and Finitude (Formal + Interludes)

• Premise 3: Incompleteness — Definition, Consequences, Why No One Argues
• Interlude III: Echoes of Incompleteness — Physics, Bounded Rationality, Apophatic Theology
• Premise 4: Finitude — Definition, Consequences, Why No One Argues
• Interlude IV: Echoes of Finitude — Thermodynamics, Neural Architecture, Epistemology
• Complete Derivation: The Forced Loop

Part II: The Corollaries

Chapter 4: Attention

• Attention as loop property
• Technical: Attention heads, sparse activation, bottlenecks
• Practical: Focus as competitive advantage
• Philosophical: Prayer, meditation, "where your treasure is"

Chapter 5: Agency

• Agency as loop property
• Technical: Active inference, control theory, servomechanisms
• Practical: Decision-making under uncertainty
• Philosophical: Free will, providence, "faith without works"

Chapter 6: The Loop

• PAUSE → FETCH → SPLICE → CONTINUE
• Technical: Compilers, immune systems, transformers
• Practical: Markets, supply chains, organizations
• Philosophical: Prophetic pattern, liturgy, revelation-response

Part III: The Poetry

Chapter 7+: They Were Saying This All Along (User's voice)

• The prophets across eras
• Isomorphism of vocabulary across epochs
• The cognitive signature
• Why it feels like this to see this

Working Notes

Working Notes

Previous run: yoneda-lemon → buttocks-are-a-lie (gag to test ideas) → hyperfocus → all-you-need-is-love treatise

This run: dry technical first → podcast with NotebookLM → dive in

Case: task-d5848bdc-dfff-4e57-9aa1-a44e79fc5549 - tracks research, evolution, temporal dimension

Nodes: track output artifacts, chapter drafts, spatial dimension

Chapter Nodes

chapters:
  aasb-ch01-introduction: pending (user)
  aasb-ch02-inside-causality: complete
  aasb-ch03-see-store: complete
  aasb-ch04-attention: complete
  aasb-ch05-agency: complete
  aasb-ch06-the-loop: complete
  aasb-ch07-poetry: complete (kickstarter)

Source Material

• grounding-the-invariant
• isomorphism-across-eras
• prophetic-cognitive-signature
• the-book-that-doesnt-exist
• all-you-need-is-love (previous treatise)
• yoneda-lemon
• bedrock

Review Feedback (2026-01-23)

Assessment: Thesis holds - four boring premises → forced loop → cross-domain convergence

Suggestions for Next Phase:

• Make Chapters 1-3 as dry as promised: definitions, lemmas, minimal formalism
• Outline actual chapter structure as publishable TOC
• Tighten formal core for peer review survivability

Current Status:

Chapter	Status	Owner
Ch 1 - Introduction	Pending	User
Ch 2 - Inside/Causality	Complete	Claude
Ch 3 - See/Store	Complete	Claude
Ch 4 - Attention	Complete	Claude
Ch 5 - Agency	Complete	Claude
Ch 6 - The Loop	Complete	Claude
Ch 7 - Poetry Kickstarter	Complete	Claude
Ch 7+ - Stories	Pending	User

Next Steps:

• User writes Ch 1 in careful voice
• User expands Ch 7+ with stories from kickstarter survey
• Podcast dry chapters with NotebookLM
• Optional: formalize definitions/lemmas

Provenance

Document

• Status: 🔴 Unverified

Changelog

• 2026-01-23 04:59: Node created by mcp - Setting up the As Above So Below book structure

South

slots:
- slug: grounding-the-invariant
  context:
  - Source material for the book
- slug: the-book-that-doesnt-exist
  context:
  - The call to action that spawned this
- slug: aasb-ch01-introduction
  context:
  - Chapter 1
- slug: aasb-book-manifest
  context:
  - Linking manifest to main book node
- slug: aasb-first-review
  context:
  - Linking book structure to first review feedback
- slug: oculus-is-the-invariant
  context:
  - The book is being written using a tool that IS the pattern being documented -
    the medium is the proof
- slug: aasb-voice-guidance
  context:
  - Writing guidance for maintaining voice - rigorous structure, native expression
- slug: delegation-principle
  context:
  - The Delegation Principle is where the book gets teeth - moves from pattern recognition
    to structural necessity of relationship
- slug: liturgy-as-loop-technology
  context:
  - The book as liberation tech - reveals the structure so you can see when it's being
    run on you vs by you
- slug: neurodivergent-prophet-pattern
  context:
  - The book's ending - I think the gift and the cost are the same wiring

East

slots:
- slug: aasb-visualization-engines
  context:
  - Linking visualization engines to main book node. These are implementation artifacts
    that make the abstract concepts concrete throughout the book.
- slug: aasb-the-pivot
  context:
  - The pivot is the make-or-break moment of the book - where the central claim is
    made. Pre-disciplinary, not interdisciplinary. Lineage recognition, not grandiosity.
    This guides how to position the entire argument.
- slug: aasb-attractor-loop-homunculus-dissolution
  context:
  - 'Critical missing content for book: attractor loop that dissolves homunculus.
    Reference signal from relationship structure, not internal watcher. Free energy/ACC
    connection shows compassion IS gradient descent. Makes Delegation Principle derivation
    instead of assertion.'
- slug: aasb-procedural-vs-landscape-thinking
  context:
  - 'Core mechanism: all thought is landscape navigation, not procedure. Procedural
    thinking = cached paths. Prophets have less caching, see topology directly. Chapter
    4-5 material that explains why some people see patterns and can''t explain them
    in steps.'