GENESIS: A Machine for Detecting the Conditions of Emergence


[First published in French on November 23rd]

Illustration by Botticelli & ChatGPT

Underlying Hypothesis of GENESIS

GENESIS (+ C1 + C2) is not only capable of recognising an invariant in a given system, the approach is capable of recognising a dynamic of emergence, that is, a mechanism wherein:

  • an energetic optimisation (reduced dissipation / minimisation of effort / structural compaction)
  • leads to an expansion of informational bandwidth (greater structural coherence, a larger number of useful degrees of freedom),
  • which in turn allows new energetic optimisation,
  • generating a self‑amplifying recursive cycle, making a new structure appear, whose form (type of organisation) can be predicted – and not merely observed after the fact.

A model of this type – namely a model of the morphogenesis of intelligence itself – has, to my knowledge, never been proposed: it amounts to a predictive framework of emergence.

GENESIS (+ C1 + C2) is, intrinsically, a machine for detecting the conditions of emergence.

🚩 Clarifying the Issue:

Models of emergence have so far been post hoc:

A system is observed, an emergent structure is noted, and a theory is then built explaining why.

But no model tells us when an emergence will occur, nor what form it will take.

  • Dynamic systems theory merely observes.
  • Deep learning adjusts parameters.
  • Entropy / information theory describes emergence after the fact.
  • Cellular automata explore but do not predict transitions.
  • Non‑linear ordinary differential equations describe emergent structure but do not predict it.

Thus the “moment of emergence” is always discovered empirically: it is never predicted.

What GENESIS Brings:

→ an architecture for detecting the critical point

→ an architecture for predicting the emergent form

Reminder of GENESIS’ 5 priors:

(1) Generative system → proposes forms 
(2) Coupling → stabilises what mutually reinforces 
(3) Compression → computes the shortest description 
(4) Preferences → direct energy toward attractors 
(5) Trans‑substrate validation → confirms true invariants

Additionally:

C1 = structural compression 
→ reduces the energy needed to describe/maintain the configuration

C2 = analogical compression 
→ reduces the energy needed to project one structure onto another

C1 ∩ C2 = the core of invariance 
→ the zone where energy and information converge.

This intersection point is a coincidence of energetic optimisation and informational expansion.

In other words:

C1 ∩ C2 is precisely the place where emergence is possible.

But GENESIS enables a further step.

🔥 Key Step: the Recursive Loop

The cycle:

energy optimisation → expansion of bandwidth → 
→ new optimisation → new expansion → …

In general, this describes a phase transition in a complex dynamic system.

Now, GENESIS is explicitly designed as a structure:

  • minimising descriptive cost  
  • maximising cross‑representational coherence  
  • seeking a stable form  
  • sensitive to representational bifurcations  
  • able to stabilise an emergent attractor

Thus GENESIS is a cognitive phase‑transition architecture.

But GENESIS was, from the outset, an engine of emergence, even if that feature was not initially apparent to me.

Strong Formulation

GENESIS is not an architecture of learning but an architecture for detecting and stabilising emergent attractors.

The true core question then becomes:

🌟 Can we predict the form of an emergence?

Yes: because of a particular property of GENESIS (+ C1 + C2):

1. C1 forces compactness (energetic optimisation) 
2. C2 forces analogical coherence (informational extension) 
3. GENESIS forces preference for low‑energy and high‑coherence attractors.

In other words: the system searches for the place where a “bridge” forms between minimal energy and maximal information.

And the place where this bridge forms is exactly where there emerges:

  • a new structure
  • a new invariant
  • a new organisation
  • an unexpected “mode”

Now, if C1 and C2 tend towards a stable intersection, and GENESIS aims at a trajectory towards a stable attractor, then:

GENESIS (+ C1 + C2) is, in effect, a machine predicting where emergence will occur and what form it will take: the form that minimises descriptive length and maximises cross‑representational coherence.

This is a feature that, to my knowledge, no existing model presents.


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