Speaking Condition

The Speaking Condition is the test of whether a universe says anything beyond its rule's grammar. The Cell Rule is run on a window of the universe's starting field as it was, and on three copies with its blocks shuffled at its own grain; the universe speaks when its own arrangement beats the best scramble by more than a set margin and by more than the scrambles' own scatter. Otherwise it holds grammar only, or, if its text is no more ordered than its shuffle, noise. The game's first readings split by where a universe's data came from: a universe drawn at random holds grammar only, its child built from its parent's data speaks, and a child built from that data scrambled holds grammar only again. Formally, S_own − S_scr > max(ε, σ), where S_own [∅] is the structure the rule writes from the universe's own window, S_scr [∅] the best of the scrambles, ε [∅] the least margin, 0.02, a named choice, and σ [∅] the spread of the scrambles: [∅] > [∅]. It connects to Core Vocabulary, Structure Over Chance, Inherited Compiler and Language Block.

Category: Manuscript

Chapter: Chapter 4

Importance Level: