World-Building with Design Systems, Chapter 12

Design Tokens for Telepathic Cognition

In this chapter, we’ll define fundamental constants and rules for our telepathic world, creating a quantifiable framework for modeling thought processes, protection, and change. These design tokens will serve as the building blocks for our world, much like the basic rules of the Game of Life generate complex behaviors.

Let’s establish our core design tokens:

  1. Telepathic Field Strength (TFS) Range: 0.0 to 10.0 Unit: Psi Description: Measures the intensity of telepathic activity in an area.

  2. Mental Bandwidth (MB) Range: 1 to 1000 Unit: Thoughts Per Second (TPS) Description: The rate at which an individual or group can process telepathic information.

  3. Thought Stability Index (TSI) Range: 0.0 to 1.0 Description: Indicates how resistant a thought is to change or dissolution.

  4. Cognitive Refresh Rate (CRR) Range: 0.1 to 10.0 Unit: Hertz (Hz) Description: How frequently an individual’s or group’s thought patterns update.

  5. Telepathic Range (TR) Range: 0 to 1000 Unit: Meters Description: The maximum distance over which telepathic communication can occur.

  6. Idea Half-Life (IHL) Range: 0 to ∞ Unit: Seconds Description: The time it takes for half of a population to forget or modify an idea.

  7. Memetic Immunity (MI) Range: 0.0 to 1.0 Description: Resistance to unwanted telepathic influences or idea adoption.

Now, let’s explore how these tokens interact and how they relate to our Game of Life analogies:

Scenario: Nexus Corporation’s Telepathic Brainstorming Session

Nexus is holding a company-wide brainstorming session to generate ideas for their new telepathic network technology. Let’s model this scenario using our design tokens and Game of Life principles.

  1. Setting the Stage

The session takes place in Nexus’s Telepathic Conference Center, a space designed for controlled telepathic interaction.

  • Room TFS: 7.5 Psi (high, to facilitate idea sharing)
  • Room Size: 20m x 20m (TR: 20)

Game of Life Analogy: This is like setting up a 100x100 grid with a high initial population density.

  1. Participant Metrics

50 employees are participating, each with their own telepathic capabilities:

  • Average Individual MB: 100 TPS
  • Average Individual TSI: 0.6
  • Average Individual CRR: 1 Hz
  • Average Individual MI: 0.7

Game of Life Analogy: Each participant is like a complex, semi-stable pattern capable of generating and absorbing “gliders” (ideas).

  1. Idea Generation and Propagation

As the session begins, participants start generating and sharing ideas. We can model this process using our tokens:

a) Idea Emergence: When a participant generates a new idea, it enters the telepathic field with an initial TSI based on the individual’s confidence and the idea’s inherent appeal.

Example: Dr. Patel conceives a novel network topology.

  • Initial TSI: 0.8 (strong, well-formed idea)
  • MB Cost: 50 TPS (complex concept)

Game of Life Analogy: This is like a new, complex pattern emerging on the grid.

b) Idea Propagation: The idea spreads through the telepathic field, its speed and reach determined by the room’s TFS and participants’ MB.

Propagation Speed = TFS * Average MB / (50 * 20^2) ideas per second per square meter In this case: 7.5 * 100 / (50 * 400) = 0.0375 ideas/s/m^2

Game of Life Analogy: This is similar to how a glider moves across the grid, influencing cells as it goes.

c) Cognitive Interference: As multiple ideas propagate, they interact in participants’ minds. The CRR determines how quickly these interactions occur.

Interactions per second = CRR * Number of ideas in range If there are 10 active ideas in a participant’s range: 1 Hz * 10 = 10 interactions/s

Game of Life Analogy: This is like the complex interactions that occur when multiple gliders collide.

  1. Idea Evolution and Stability

As ideas interact, they evolve, combine, or dissolve based on their TSI and participants’ MI.

a) Idea Mutation: Probability of mutation per interaction = (1 - TSI) * (1 - MI) For Dr. Patel’s idea: (1 - 0.8) * (1 - 0.7) = 0.06 or 6% chance per interaction

Game of Life Analogy: This is similar to how patterns in the Game of Life can transform when they interact with other patterns.

b) Idea Combination: When two compatible ideas interact, they may combine to form a new, potentially stronger idea.

New Idea TSI = (TSI1 + TSI2) / 2 + Compatibility Bonus (0.1 to 0.3)

Game of Life Analogy: This is like when two gliders collide to form a more complex, stable pattern.

c) Idea Dissolution: Ideas with low TSI may dissolve when they encounter high MI individuals.

Dissolution Chance = (1 - TSI) * MI For a weak idea (TSI 0.3) encountering a high MI individual (0.9): (1 - 0.3) * 0.9 = 0.63 or 63% chance

Game of Life Analogy: This is similar to how unstable patterns in the Game of Life can quickly disappear.

  1. Session Dynamics

As the brainstorming session progresses, we can use the Idea Half-Life (IHL) to model how long ideas persist in the group consciousness.

IHL = Base Half-Life * Average TSI * (1 / CRR) Assuming a base half-life of 1000 seconds: 1000 * 0.6 * (1 / 1) = 600 seconds

This means that after 10 minutes, half of the participants will have modified or forgotten any given idea, unless it has been reinforced.

Game of Life Analogy: This is like observing how long certain patterns persist in a Game of Life simulation before evolving or disappearing.

  1. Outcome Measurement

At the end of the session, we can measure its success by:

a) Idea Density: Number of unique ideas per square meter b) Innovation Index: Average TSI of top 10 ideas c) Collaboration Factor: Number of successfully combined ideas d) Retention Rate: Percentage of ideas with IHL > session duration

Game of Life Analogy: This is similar to analyzing a Game of Life grid after a set number of generations, looking at pattern diversity, stability, and complexity.

Conclusion

By defining these design tokens and exploring their interactions, we’ve created a quantifiable framework for modeling telepathic cognition. This system allows us to predict and describe complex telepathic phenomena in our world, much like how the simple rules of the Game of Life give rise to complex behaviors.

In our final chapter, we’ll use this framework to develop emergent strategies for stable thought evolution, addressing our original challenge of “changing one’s mind” in a telepathic world.