Interaction Engine
High-dimensional systems communicating through low-dimensional code
Drag to perturb
The Core Insight
Complex systems cannot directly access each other's internal states. They can only communicate through a low-dimensional interface.
The sender's high-dimensional dynamics are sampled and quantized into discrete symbols. The receiver reconstructs meaning from these symbols—but never sees the original dynamics.
The Bottleneck Creates Code
Watch the center channel. Continuous motion on the left becomes discrete symbols (0, 1, A, T) that traverse the gap.
The "bandwidth" slider controls how much of the sender's state can pass through. Narrow bandwidth = more aggressive quantization = more discrete code.
Controls
- System Types: Choose different dynamical systems for sender and receiver. Lorenz (chaos), Neural (network), Harmonic (wave).
- Bandwidth: How much information can pass through the bottleneck. Lower = more quantization.
- Mouse: Drag on the left side to perturb the sender system and watch the code change.
Key Experiment
Set both systems to "Neural" and reduce bandwidth to minimum. Perturb the left system and watch how the right system's response is delayed and discretized—it only reacts when a code packet arrives, not to your continuous motion.
Biological Parallels
Neurons: Continuous membrane dynamics → discrete action potentials → postsynaptic response.
Cells: Internal metabolism → signaling molecules → receptor activation.
Organisms: Thoughts → language → understanding.