Patternistics

As its name implies, Patternistics is a science based on the use of patterns rather than mathematical symbols to represent physical forces.

Topics in Patternistics

Level Engineering

The patternistic approach can be applied to the study of particle physics. By representing particles as sets of binary bits, black and white pixels, and their interactions as shifts in the patterns, it is possible to gain insight into the workings of the universe.

At some point during this study, the question of the ultimate graininess of the universe arose. How many times can a quark be subdivided until you get down to the real pixels? The question has still not been answered, but as scientists ran simulations of the universe while varying number-of-divisions, they discovered that all the simulations represented some aspect of reality. In some circumstances the universe behaves as if it has a grainy consistency, and in others it seems finely-divided. (A familiar example is the dual wave/particle nature of light.) The grainier universes were called deep levels, and the finely-divided universes shallow levels, and level-engineering had its beginning.

The next step was to force the appearance of deeper or shallower levels where they were not ordinarily found. This was done by manipulation of objects and forces within a local environment to replicate objects and forces of the level desired, creating an intersection of levels, or transway.

Why go to the trouble? Level-engineering permits wonderful things: in a nutshell, deep-levels contract space and time while shallow levels expand them.

Common applications of level-engineering in the Empire:

• Infinity Boxes store merchandise on shallow-levels, with interleaf shields, consisting of layers of material arranged by a transition in structure from one level to another, to keep the contents on shallow level during shipment.
• Tetrascoping Ships, so-named because they navigate to four levels deep, are used for interplanetary travel. There are also models designed for more or fewer levels.
• Farfling Towers for interplanetary communications via deep-levels. They send information much faster than lightspeed.
• All-Zeroed Communications Nodes are a safer but less reliable means of receiving deep-level communications.

A visual interpretation of level transformation.

Topics in Theoretical Patternistics

The Total Configuration Effect

The Total Configuration effect is an observation about the universe similar to the conservation laws known to physics. The total sum of the patternistic elements that make up the universe is conserved, no matter how the pattern changes. Mindseas use the TCE to stroke the connection between objects under their direct observation and the rest of the universe.

Patternistic Integrity

Patternistic Integrity is a term that refers to patternistic elements that are grouped under a single identity. PI determines the extent of the fusion field when tetrascoping ships downlevel. PI determines the number of branchings of alternative histories as well, for each configuration bounded by PI will generate only one branching. PI is similar to the TCE, but in a localized area of the universe. It is unlike the TCE in that its boundaries fluctuate with every rearrangment of patternistic elements.

Patternistic Equivalence

Patternistic Equivalence refers to indistinguishableness on a deeper level of patterns that may have been different from each other on a shallower level. PE is is a result of the coarser-grain of deeper-level patterns. The deeper one goes, the more shallow-level patterns merged into PE.

Multiple Framing

Multiple framing refers to the fact that an event, or patternistic change, seems to be part of different chains of causality when viewed from different levels. On home level we have our familiar laws of physics, but the the rules governing rearrangements of patternistic elements look different on deeper levels. Certain events have no deep-level interpretation because their beginning and ending patterns are equivalent on deeper levels. But those that do have such an interpretation produce deep-level patternistic changes that are consistent with the working of deep-level forces. Multiple framing is similar to the concept of duality known by physicists today.

The Exact Configuration Effect

The Exact Configuration Effect recognizes that a specific combination of elements that may have no meaning on one level may be signifigant on another level. Specifically, elements of a deep-level device may appear to be a random collection of objects and energies on home-level. The ability to trigger deep-level effects through manipulation of home-level objects which have a deep-level interpretation can appear magical.

Magic and Patternistics

According to the teachings of the Empire's mindsea academies, effects that might seem magical to the uninformed are the results of applied Patternistics.

Patternistics is a way of looking at the universe that disassembles the patterns that compose time, space, matter, and energy and reassembles them into patterns belonging to other systems with different names. This new point of view may allow the observer to understand how the application of a tiny force to a crucial element of a pattern may cause a large shift in the overall configuration--magic!

Power is generally found on deeper levels, which are composed of coarser-grained patterns. Any object which embodies the pattern of a deeper level of reality is known as a transaxis to the students of Patternistics. Such an object might be called a magical talisman by primitive peoples. A place composed of deep-level patterns, providing passage to a deeper level, is known to imperials as a transway.

The mindseas of the future believe that the popular notion of magic as consisting of spells and incantations is a tradition passed down from people who once observed level-engineering without understanding it. The placement of seemingly random substances in a seemingly meaningless pattern might be a part of transway-construction. Even the pronunciation of certain syllables might be a convenient method for completing the exact configuration needed to open a transway, since any action one undertakes is part of the total configuration. There were patternists on Earth before our time. Some mindseas believe that the Neanderthals were patternists. Others imagine that Earth's gods were patternists or deep-level beings.

The Ultimate Number of Divisions

The question of how finely the universe can be divided, i.e. is there an ultimate shallowest level, still hasn't been resolved. Studies conducted at the various imperial mindsea academies suggest that available energy decreases as the levels go shallower, and the level of disorder, or entropy, increases. As one approaches an infinite number of divisions, entropy would become so great that nothing at all could change on those levels, and there would be no history associated with them.

The Evolution of Universes

Patternists believe that all possible universes are generated from combinations of some basic duality represented by black and white squares. They may model universes using a few rules--the fewer the better--and contemplate the patterns for possible insights into our own or alien universes. Here is a miniaturized example of such a universe.