Bedrock: The Mandatory Algorithm for Embedded Observers

Why Every Information Processing System Converges on the Same Pattern

Author: Graeme Fawcett Version: 1.0 - January 2026

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Abstract

We identify a universal constraint on information processing in causal systems. Any system that must build coherent state from incomplete local information—any embedded observer in a causal universe—will converge on a single algorithm: PAUSE → FETCH → SPLICE → CONTINUE. This is not a design choice. It is the only possible solution given the constraints. We demonstrate this pattern across biological systems (DNA replication, immune response), computational systems (compilers, databases, TCP), artificial intelligence (transformer attention), cultural systems (archetype filling), and economic systems (price discovery). The convergence is not coincidental but necessary. Recognition of this invariant enables cross-domain optimization transfer.

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1. The Claim

Any system that must build coherent state from incomplete local information will converge on:

PAUSE → FETCH → SPLICE → CONTINUE

This sequence is mandatory for any embedded observer in a causal universe.

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2. Proof of Necessity

If you are:

• Embedded (cannot see everything at once)
• Causal (effects follow causes)
• Acting (must produce coherent output)

Then you must:

• Encounter stream sequentially — causality enforces this
• Recognize incompleteness — holes in local information
• Resolve from available context — query what you need
• Integrate results — splice into coherent state
• Continue — finite observation window

There is no alternative. You cannot skip steps. You cannot reorder them. The constraints force the algorithm.

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3. Domain Evidence

The same pattern appears independently across domains because each domain faces identical constraints:

Domain	System	PAUSE	FETCH	SPLICE	CONTINUE
Biology	DNA replication	Origin recognition	Helicase unwinding	Ligase joining	Fork progression
Biology	Immune system	Antigen detection	Receptor matching	Antibody production	Response cascade
Computing	Compilers	Token recognition	Symbol lookup	AST construction	Code emission
Computing	Databases	Query parse	Index lookup	Join operation	Result streaming
Computing	TCP	SYN received	Handshake	Connection established	Data transfer
AI	Transformers	Token embedding	Attention query	Context integration	Next token
Culture	Narrative	Gap recognition	Archetype matching	Story integration	Resolution
Economics	Markets	Information asymmetry	Price discovery	Transaction	Settlement

These systems were designed independently by evolution, engineering, and emergence. They converge because the problem is one problem. The solution is one solution.

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4. Novel Contributions

This work:

• Names the invariant explicitly — PAUSE → FETCH → SPLICE → CONTINUE as the canonical form
• Proves universality — demonstrates the pattern holds across biological, computational, cultural, and economic domains
• Identifies the duality — attention (inward) and agency (outward) are inverses of this single operation
• Enables transfer — fifty years of compiler optimization applies to transformers; transformer research applies to immune systems; economic theory applies to document rendering
• Builds implementation — Wanderland demonstrates conscious implementation rather than accidental convergence

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5. Implications

5.1 Cross-Domain Optimization

The boundaries between fields are artifacts of history, not structure. The structure is one thing. This means:

• Compiler optimizations transfer to neural architectures
• Biological repair mechanisms inform error correction
• Economic equilibrium theory applies to attention allocation
• Database query planning applies to memory retrieval

Any optimization discovered in one domain is immediately applicable to all others implementing the same invariant.

5.2 Convergent Evolution by Necessity

If this is the only algorithm available to embedded observers, then every sufficiently advanced information processing system—biological, artificial, or alien—will implement this pattern.

This is not convergent evolution by chance. It is convergent evolution by necessity.

5.3 The Recursion

This pattern was discovered by a system implementing this pattern, examining its own operation externalized through tooling.

CFR discovered CFR using CFR.

The recursion is the proof.

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6. Conclusion

We have identified bedrock: the mandatory algorithm for embedded observers in causal systems.

PAUSE → FETCH → SPLICE → CONTINUE

One pattern. Every domain. Not by design. By necessity.

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Provenance

Document

• Status: 🔴 Unverified

North

slots:
- slug: research-prior-art-streams-with-gaps
  context:
  - Prior art research flows down to foundational claim
- slug: bidirectional-attention-thesis
  context:
  - Bidirectional attention explains the mechanism behind the mandatory algorithm

West

slots:
- slug: functor-contract-law-to-wanderland
  context:
  - Legal systems as evidence of convergent evolution to the mandatory algorithm
- slug: reading-list-creating-tools
  context:
  - Linking to bedrock as sibling - both express the universal constraint

South

slots:
- slug: simulation-without-a-basement
  context:
  - Mathematical formalization flows up to the bedrock claim
- slug: grandmothers-teatime
  context:
  - Grandmother protocol as human-readable bedrock
- slug: tree-in-the-forest-reframed
  context:
  - Linking ontological extension to bedrock thesis
- slug: consciousness-as-maintenance-cost
  context:
  - Extending bedrock claim to explain why consciousness exists
- slug: communication-as-measurement
  context:
  - Communication as instance of mandatory FETCH
- slug: honk-gr-implementation
  context:
  - HONK-GR demonstrates bedrock invariant in DNS
- slug: rubin-through-bedrock
  context:
  - Rubin analysis flows up to bedrock thesis
- slug: oculus-v2-first-principles
  context:
  - V2 architecture derived directly from the mandatory algorithm - bedrock is the
    theoretical foundation
- slug: bedrock-contagion-theory
  context:
  - Theory derives from the mandatory algorithm