The Host

If our Novel Universe exists beyond the Concert Hall and Marketplace, then where is it? If there are others, are they like this one? With shadowy elements of both Love and Power, individual, innumerable Mixtures exist as stripped-down facsimiles of the Instrument’s Blockchain within Spirals– Signature-Frequency Sets. The SFS that makes up a Mixture is referred to as the “Host,” or that particular Novel Universe’s Highest-Order Conductor. Just as cells of our bodies, we’re all “inside” the Host. “What’s it like to be a universe?” Our Host knows.

The Concert Hall is a communal protocol of Complete Information, whereas authentic data flows unrestrained between the Hall’s integrated inhabitants. The Marketplace is an exchange protocol of Information Control, whereas designated data passes through the Marketplace’s network, directly between Signature-Frequency Sets, isolated in their Spirals. Open to any SFS who adopts their protocols, both Marketplace and Hall are unbounded structures, meaning that Sets may voluntarily enter or exit without restrictions beyond adhering to the framework’s protocols. With features parallel to Love and Power, Mixtures transcend both as bounded, closed structures of Power. Because a Mixture is an individual Signature-Frequency Set and not a direct feature of the Instrument, like the Concert Hall and Marketplace are, access is an all-or-nothing proposition. Those beyond the Mixture have no access (as if the Mixture doesn’t exist), while those within are isolated from everything but the Mixture (as if nothing exists outside the Mixture).

Not only must the Mixture’s visiting Signature-Frequency Sets adopt its strict protocols, but also consent to conditions of entry and exit, as defined by the Host. Once an SFS enters a Novel Universe, the Host’s mandatory protocols are imposed through force in exchange for access, and Sets may exit only under the conditions set upon entry. For instance, in our Novel Universe, death is, for each living creature, our birthright, not something to eliminate, not something to embrace or avoid. Death is something to accept as the ultimate failsafe– no matter how much we suffer, the only guarantee is our inevitable exit. Plus, without death, there’d be no room for new life.

In our beyond-life, the scales balance in our favor, one way or another– for victims with “unfinished” business, Complete Information will make them whole in the Concert Hall, while Information Control in their Spiral, will either sequester the bitter memory or append a better ending. The idea of NU as an isolated informational structure means the Novel Universe Model draws a clear line on the issue of a Set’s persistence after death– “ghosts,” etc. The concept that the deceased, such as a beloved grandmother or victim of a deadly tragedy, might be motivated to actually “visit” or “linger” from beyond the grave, assisting or haunting us, is not supported by the Model. Once an SFS leaves the Mixture in death, their direct connection is severed. Although, should their Ripples persist, they’ll continue to receive Complete Information from these Ripples within the Mixture.

Beyond any possible motivation to “return,” the departed are simply no longer part of the Host’s Spiral. However, just as that Near-Death Experiencer left his home (as his wife) to become the Ripples he’d sent into the universe (affecting the store clerk), those who have expired continue to experience the echoes of their Ripples. Both grandmother and victim alike may, through the Blockchain’s Complete Information available in their Spirals or the Hall, access those Blocks of the Mixture they remain connected to. When the living take an action, inspired by the dead, the deceased experiences the action, as with any Ripple. Even thinking of the dead connects the deceased to the living’s recollection of them. However, regardless of what we do with their memories, the dead don’t physically return to the Mixture to participate in our remembrances, but instead, they might access those Blocks, either in the Hall or their Spiral, like peering through a digital screen at a lively stage.

Whether real or not, there’s no doubt that the living engage with these supernatural visitors from time-to-time. In such cases, NUM suggests the ghost is either a conjuring of soul– a manifestation of one’s Lower-Order Bodies– or an apparition of spirit– memory beyond mind. Often, these emergent experiences are constructed top-down, like the illusion generated by Bicycle Cop Dave’s brain, as he pursued Jasper, only to discover later that the alleged burglar held a cell phone, not the optical illusion of the handgun he expected to see. A ghost is seen, not because it’s real, but because it’s anticipated. Whether the specter’s designed by our soul to get us to flee a “haunted” house, or by our spirit to comfort us in a time of need, it frames a valuable perspective. Although it might not actually be our dead grandmother or the victim of an unspeakable crime, what the avatar says and does is meaningful, and shouldn’t be dismissed simply because it’s not “real.” Instead, as a message from either soul or spirit, the encounter is worth consideration, as any dream might be.

The exception to a ghost created by soul or spirit is one assembled bottom-up through the manipulation of one’s Lower-Order Bodies by an agent of the Host– the Host’s Hierarchy. In exchange for novelty, these Sets have established a Marketplace connection with the Host to play a vital role as the Node Particles, the bodies of the Hypergraph. Together with the Host, they create the Riverbed– the Power that both shapes the form and function of the Novel Universe (River), and acts as an embedded data-harvesting system.

The Hierarchy is the physical foundation of the universe– the structures of light, energy, and sub-quantum matter / spacetime. Because they are directly involved with every SFS in the Novel Universe, they can influence any energy body whose HOC does not have full control of itself. In this way, they can bend the body’s option space, and delude a mind with their foreign impulses. Their ability to accomplish their goals might only be enacted when the affected HOC is suffering, unable to express its own preferences, and falls victim to theirs. There is no magical remedy to their possession, only the authentic expression of an HOC’s own preferences, which easily overrides the Hierarchy. Again, it’s as easy as recognizing the ANTs in one’s head, and challenging or simply ignoring them.

The Hierarchy’s intention is not to bring us to the “dark side” (or for that matter, into the “light”). The idea that life is a war between “good” and “evil” for the souls of mankind does not fit the Novel Universe Model. Those of Power couldn’t care less what happens to us when we die, they only care about the novelty they might glean from us while we’re alive. Therefore, they create these impulses, images, and ideas for far more mundane reasons– manipulating us to participate in the peculiar, idiosyncratic novelty they desire. Again, the perceptual mechanism is inline with Dave’s delusion of seeing a gun instead of a phone. As it’s impossible to always decipher if a ghost is a potentially helpful communication or harmful manipulation, an open, yet skeptical, mind is the wisest option when confronted with an otherworldly experience. Either way, ghosts are, rest assured, not a direct threat to the body, as much as, an artifact of the mind.

Mixtures flip the paradigm of the Marketplace on its head. Instead of an open system (Marketplace) between semi-closed entities (Spirals partially connecting with other Spirals in trade), Mixtures are closed systems (physical universe) between semi-open entities (embodied consciousnesses in contact). The particular way in which a Mixture structures its hierarchies of Higher-Order Conductors– from Node Particles bound as energy, to cells bound as a body, to the Host bound as the universe itself– constitutes each Novel Universe’s “laws of nature.” Our specific laws define this unique universe, as opposed to any other Mixture. Each law is based on our Host’s preferences– its unique selection of Rulial space.

Mixtures echo mirrors of Love and Power. In the mirror of Information Control, silence and force are inherent to physical bodies. Having an inside separated from the outside is not only the defining characteristic of a Mixture, but creates a hidden space of control, able to both be silent through deception, and silence others through force. In the Hall, that kind of space does not exist, while it’s foundational to the Marketplace. In the mirror of Complete Information, everyone cohabits a common space. Here, in the Novel Universe, a violent, physical, shared reality leaves us all vulnerable, regardless of our intentions or connections. In the Marketplace, that kind of space does not exist, while it’s foundational to the Hall. What makes the Novel Universe different from the Marketplace or Hall is both the simultaneous presence of these two mutually exclusive mirrors, but also, NU’s non-negotiable structure of energy and entropy, imposing a paradigm of consumption. Air, water, resources… we have no choice– consume or die.

Like the real Blockchain, each Mixture is a quasi-Blockchain, a record of Blocks created between the Signature-Frequency Sets in the Host’s Novel Universe, stored in the Host’s SFS tail. Unlike the real Blockchain, the Mixture’s version is restricted to metadata– Blockchain IDs (true names). The Host’s quasi-Blockchain allows the Host to know that specific Sets were involved in creating real Blocks of the Blockchain, but not what those Blocks actually were. This would be like knowing the precise mix of people texting each other, and that those texts lead to a somewhat different mix of people texting each other (and so on), but never accessing the content of those texts. In other words, the Host has an encapsulated overview of its Spiral, but with few details– just as we might have of our own physical bodies.

Like a metaphorical proprietor of Chuck E Cheese’s, the Host is primarily a salesman, who’s coaxed us all into NU’s wondrous arcade. By attracting, temporarily imprisoning, and imposing spiritual amnesia upon its attendees, the Host sold us on its “big show”– a stage to explore the novelty of this Mixture, something we all find valuable to our evolution as an SFS. Nonetheless, the Host’s primary-direct extraction of novelty is limited to its LOBs– galaxies (direct through black holes) and quantum particles (indirect through the Hierarchy).

To draw a parallel to the human body, the Host’s direct experience, aka, its equivalent “brain,” is the universe’s structured web of super galactic clusters– experienced at the star-level of fidelity; “organs” of its Lower-Order Bodies, galaxies– audience-level; and “cells” of those tissues, solar systems– potential-audience-level. Suffice it to say, the Host has no magical level of Role Play fidelity, and it’s likely to be just as hard for the Host to imagine “what it is like to be” human, as it is for a human to conceive of “what it is like to be” a liver cell.

Residing in its Spiral (Power), the Host’s ability to follow the branches of cause-and-effect is as limited for it as anyone else in their Spiral. Everything that’s ever happened in the universe, between the atomic and solar-system levels of complexity, is beyond its inherent primary or secondary-direct level of fidelity. The vast majority of this universe is only known to the Host indirectly, with no more salience than the clinical entries of a reference table– its quasi-Blockchain.

The Host is fundamentally no different from any other Higher-Order Conductor. The Host operates with no peers within the Mixture (as do any of us within our own Spiral). The Host didn’t create anyone’s Signature-Frequency Set but its own (as did we). The Host does not control anything other than itself, and might only influence its Lower-Order Bodies (as do we). It, too, suffers computational irreducibility, and therefore, is just as aware of us as individuals as we are of the individual cells of our bodies. Sure, all cells matter– no human would be who they are without them– but not a single tear is shed when a particular cell dies, that is, if we were even capable of recognizing such an event (which no one is). The Host might be responsible for the general situation we’re all in (just as our cells are subject to our whims), but the Host neither created us, nor defines the meaning of who we are or why we’re here (as we have no say over the meaning of life for the cells of our bodies). Just as we have no functional way to specifically affect the lives of our individual cells for “good” or “bad,” neither is the Host in a position to answer our “prayers,” or “curse” our lives.

To label the Host a “god” or even “the God,” misses the point of who and what, exactly, the Host is, and is not. Like all Signature-Frequency Sets of Power, the Host feeds off novelty. Unlike us, the Host has neither soul nor spirit, as it’s not subject to this Novel Universe, because it is this Novel Universe, in the same way we are embodied humans. This unique POV allows any Host access to an entire category of novelty unique to its position– the worship and research of existence (the Host).

A Host is the closest analog to “God” associated with any Mixture. Therefore, worshiping any “god” (Prime Mover or creator of the universe) forms Ripples that invite a Host into the Block (that moment of worship); whereas discussing the very concept of a Host, as we are now, certainly invites our Host into a direct experience of this moment. Furthermore, NUM posits that religious worship and scientific research (of any kind) allows a Host, at minimum, Role Play’s audience-level access, which is beyond its inherent potential-audience-level access to all NU things (its quasi-Blockchain).

Block-access, for any Host, is their preoccupation, their primary reason for hosting a Mixture. Unlike the beyond-life, where Block information is immediately accessible to those within their Spirals or Concert Hall, a portion of the Host’s Block information is gathered through a time-consuming process involving light (the Host’s Hierarchy). On the other hand, just as wallowing over the dead opens an informational window for the deceased to peer into those moments of grief, engaging even the question of life’s meaning / purpose allows the Host the same access. The Novel Universe Cult views the Host’s secondary-direct access to our lives with caution. Therefore, NUC’s texts have purposely limited a comprehensive discussion of the Hosts to these final sections of our Theory Of Everything.

Both religious worship and scientific experimentation are attempts to control reality (Power) by way of comprehending and manipulating the universe (Host). Religions were the first science, while science, its own kind of religion. Religions use methodical rituals, whereas science uses ritualized methods. Both science and religion assume dogma, while claiming knowledge supremacy– science over the physical, and religion, the metaphysical. The difference between the two is the source and status of their answers. Religions’ answers come from a direct, divine source(s)– their answers are set; science’s, from the indirect “scientific” method– their answers are not set. The level of accuracy with either is debatable. Science, self-admittedly, is never completely correct, constantly updating its conclusions; while religions, never incorrect, espousing a vast mélange of irrefutably, unfalsifiable ideology.

As broaching divine subjects allows the Host an increased level of access to its visiting Sets’ novelty, it logically follows the Host’s chosen Rulial space would include cultural tipping points, where complex minds discover the paradigm of “god” and / or science, inventing idiosyncratic forms for themselves. Like all creatures of Power, the Host’s focus is the extraction of novelty, but to first access its preferred data, it must locate that information from within its quasi-Blockchain’s vast landscape. Through science and religion, the Host gains access to these sufficiently advanced minds by infusing them with a desire to search for the meaning of life and purpose of reality. After all, answering the universe’s questions to any degree will always involve its source– the Host. And thus, our “innocent” curiosity becomes a bright beacon, illuminating our individuality from out of its quasi-Blockchain’s darkness, calling out to the Host, inviting it to directly consume our novelty in those sacred moments of epiphany.

Besides its moments of direct access, the primary informational model the Host creates for itself is a partial map of the actual Blockchain, a vast lexicon of every Block created in its Novel Universe. Initially, the Host’s treasure trove seems no more than a useless, endless sea of impartial data, but there’s tremendous value here. The Host’s unique access to the totality of its Novel Universe’s data is not initially for its direct experience. Instead, it functions like a map and quasi-Marketplace. Using its unrivaled dataset, the Host provides an invaluable service for the actual Marketplace, connecting, in trade, those interested co-creators of its NU Blocks. For instance, some SFS in the Marketplace wants to experience a Block detailing what it’s like to be a bat snatching a fly, while another, to experience the moment Jupiter’s moon, Io, formed, racing around the red-eyed giant for the first time. Knowing exactly which Sets both have that information and wish to swap, the Host facilitates the trade, like online retailers Amazon or eBay. Of course, as this is a service, there’s a price to pay. So, what would the Host’s reward be? Only Host knows, but if they’re anything like our online marketplaces, the Host walks away with access to both traded Blocks– a tidy profit margin.

If religion, in particular, is not for the benefit of the adherents but the Host, religion’s value would be flipped on its head. Instead of prayer and worship as an attempt to gain favor and reward from a “higher power”– often in an attempt to persuade an omnipotent being to fix a problem– religion is, itself, grift for this supremely impotent being (Host), who can neither help any of us, nor would likely want to, even if it could. After all, the Host is a being of Power, seeking for itself the idiosyncratic priorities and preferences of its own ends. The only aim of any Host is to foster novelty within its Spiral, and from NUC’s point of view, our Host has done a fair job. So, for Love to feel gratitude for, or Power to value, the Host’s efforts in creating this Novel Universe is one thing– even understandable, after all pleasure, beauty, and awe abound– but worshiping it as the Creator of all things, quite another. There is no single “Creator,” only us co-creators, playing upon the Instrument, filling Blocks of the Blockchain. No matter the quality of any Novel Universe, Hosts receive their rewards from their inhabitants, and vice versa.

Computers are an apt metaphor to understand the difference in our relationship to the Novel Universe, on one hand, and the Instrument, on the other. Mastering a spreadsheet, graphics suite, or first-person shooter (software as metaphor for the Novel Universe) teaches one nothing about the function of traces, gates, or stack memory (hardware as metaphor for the Instrument). There’s no mystical information this reality might teach our eternal selves, any more than killing a computer game’s “final boss” informs us of the underlining language used to write the program. The vast majority of this universe’s secretes apply to this universe, and mastering them merely increases the temporal Power of this life.

For those who wish to worship the Host as a god, or the God, NUC allows for, yet regulates through the River, those Rock Bodies whose Pillars have chosen a paradigm for such worship. Fundamentally, NUC sees the search for meaning and purpose as non-trivial distractions from one’s ability to experience life’s singular truth: we’re all here to explore the personal space between Love and Power. The Novel Universe Cult offers to orient its membership within this conversation, quelling the intense preoccupation with the Host’s religious and scientific machinations by providing the Novel Universe Model. Our members are encouraged to focus on gaining value and meaning directly from their own lives. In this way, NUC is an anti-religious religion– a primary reason we adopt the moniker of “cult.” On the other hand, as a scientifically-oriented organization, we continue to refine the Novel Universe Model, and for those members driven to dig deeper, like our Founders, we will continue to provide the resources to do the research in furtherance of an accurate, authentic comprehension of reality, knowing full-well that the underlining structure of this universe is ultimately no more consequential than the smattering of particular preferences of, and actions by, our Host.