Organism Steering Game Theory
Teaching CT through embodied experience on a dynamic contact graph
Every game mechanic is a CT theorem in action. The contact graph IS the game world. Organism growth expands cascade range. The six organism elements become six gameplay systems that emerge from alignment, not from construction.
The player begins as a single pattern on a contact graph and must grow an organism by steering alignment. Structure is not built — it emerges. Scaffold appears from bonding. Loops appear from graph cycles. Walls appear from inside/outside asymmetry.
If the player can describe what happened without using CT vocabulary, the mechanic failed.
The Contact Graph as Game World
Derivation from A1, A3, A4, A5
The game world is a contact graph G = (V, E) where nodes are patterns with CL, budgets (Bth, Bcx, Bleak), and alignment angle θ. Edges carry surface tension τ = λleak · sin²(Δθ).
1. New patterns appear (A9: environment always produces novel disturbances)
2. Existing patterns die (Sel < 0 under current Λ prices)
3. Edges form (patterns drift into mutual poke range) or break (drift apart)
4. External organisms enter the neighborhood (cascade ranges overlap)
The player sees only the neighborhood within Rcascade, proportional to CL(A*). As the organism grows more coherent, its binder strengthens and more distant patterns become interactive. The world gets bigger as a consequence of growing coherence.
Six Elements as Game Systems
Each element maps to a player resource
Internal "road network" defining distances. If degraded, transport costs rise unboundedly. Emerges from having sufficient density of internal connections with stable distance metrics.
The organism's identity and alignment direction theta_{A*}. Steering costs B_cx quadratically (B6): small corrections are cheap, large pivots are expensive.
Sensing and communication apparatus. Circulate through the organism detecting pokes (sensor) and carrying information (transport). Each loop costs B_cx proportional to beta_1.
Boundary with the external contact graph. Insulate the interior from external pokes. Emerge wherever the organism meets patterns with different alignment angles.
Detect misalignment between sub-regions and correct it. Have irreducible blind spots (T1). The player infers blind spots from unrepaired damage.
Always non-zero (A9). The CL meter slowly drains even when nothing bad happens. Standing still is dying.
Five Player Controls
Each derived from CT, each interacting through SEP
Level Zero: Abiogenesis
From single pattern to organism via emergence
The six elements emerge in a specific order dictated by their dependencies. The player does not build structure — structure emerges from aligned interaction under selection pressure.
Player steers theta toward nearby aligned patterns. Surface tension drops. Bonds form. The player IS the binder.
Bonded patterns create edges with transport costs. Edges define distances = pseudo-metric. Scaffold emerges from bonding, not building.
With 3+ patterns and 3+ edges, cycles form. beta_1 goes from 0 to 1. The first circulating pulse = birth of sensing.
Cluster develops interior vs. boundary nodes. Boundary nodes face misaligned external patterns. The asymmetry IS the wall.
Nodes drift from alignment. Neighbors detect via loops, transmit correction via scaffold. Self-repair appears without player action.
Present from tick zero (A9). What changes is not whether leakage exists but what generates and mitigates it.
Structure is not imposed. Structure emerges from aligned interaction under selection pressure. The player who completes Level Zero understands this chain not as an abstract argument but as a sequence of events they caused by doing nothing more than steering alignment.
Budget Regimes as Game Levels
Three regimes from SEP when one lambda dominates
λth dominates. Moving information is expensive. Optimal strategy: stay compact, deploy many cheap roots (T2 multi-root), accept most will die (root death as information).
λcx dominates. Internal coordination is costly. Loops, editors, and root connections are expensive. The organism can move but cannot organize.
λleak dominates. Boundary exposure is deadly. The environment is hostile. The organism must seal itself. Every unit of leakage is fatal.
Falsifiable Predictions
P1: Element Recall
P2: Sigma Convergence
P3: Snap Transition
Source: CT_THEORY_ORGANISM_GAME.md · Full theoretical foundation for an interactive CT experience with every mechanic derived from first principles.