Anthrocybernetics Course Foundation v2

A shared reference for collaborators, advisors, and early reviewers.

↗ View on zo.pub — wholewheat/anthrocybernetics-foundation-v2

v2 supersedes v1 by integrating two new strands: the Oscillator Model (a thermodynamic re-foundation of Cascade's ring system) and a fact-checked evidence base for soft inheritance, bioelectricity, fungal networks, and field-state biology. Every empirical claim has been routed through an independent audit that sorts it into Tier 1 (peer-reviewed), Tier 2 (peer-grade / contested), or Tier 3 (speculative).

⚠️ Key revision (2026-06-25)

Cascade's ceiling was originally framed as Dunbar's ~150 — a cognitive limit. v2 reframes it as thermodynamic: the ceiling is wherever total energy expenditure across all active relationships meets the operator's available energy budget. Dynamic, not fixed. Measurable, not assumed.

The Conceptual Stack

Each layer down adds operational specificity. Each layer up adds interpretive breadth.

Five Fields Phase / Field / Arc / Form / Lattice — diagnostic grammar (kept from v1)
WaterStorage 9 phase states — information flow layer (kept from v1)
Oscillator Model ω, A, φ, ζ → Coherence / Resonance / Dissipation — new in v2
Cascade Hexgrid 127 hexes / 7 rings / 5 currencies — canonical substrate
Energy Budget Daily 1–100, ledger, capacity check — operating layer
Evidence Pillars Soft inheritance · field-state biology · fungal networks — fact-checked

Entry Points

Where to start, depending on why you're here.

Suggested reading order

  1. README.md — orientation, file index, how to review
  2. oscillator-model.md — the new theoretical heart (§1, §4, §5, §5.5, §6 first)
  3. cascade-hexgrid-spec.md — the substrate spec
  4. energy-budget-protocol.md — the daily practice
  5. soft-inheritance-evidence.md — the evidence base, Tier 1
  6. research/zo-pub-revswirl-dossier.md — the routing doc for all brainstorms

The Documents

Foundational & Navigation

README.md

Orientation, file index, review guidance, conceptual stack. The front door to v2.

Documents the 2026-06-25 revision: Dunbar → thermodynamic ceiling.

653 words navigation

CHANGELOG.md

Versioned history: v1 (2026-06-11) → v2 session 1 (2026-06-25) → session 2 → session 3 (2026-06-26).

Records what was added, changed, preserved, and deprecated at each step.

932 words history

integration-with-v1.md

Migration map from v1 → v2: what's kept, replaced, added, and left for v3.

Pricing implications (none for v2). Open questions for cohort feedback.

1,026 words migration

Core Theoretical Stack

The three documents that replace v1's cascade-integration.md.

oscillator-model.md

The theoretical heart. Four parameters (ω, A, φ, ζ) producing three macro-traits (Coherence, Resonance, Dissipation) via a causal chain ending in ring promotion.

2,094 words Tier 1 — physics anchors verified

cascade-hexgrid-spec.md

The canonical substrate: 127 hexes, 7 rings (R0 You → R6 The Current), 5 currencies, 5 warmth bands.

R0 is the sovereign at the center of their own map. Ring names aligned to the canonical Cascade document.

1,437 words Tier 1 — geometry verified

energy-budget-protocol.md

The operating layer — a 3-minute daily practice. 1 number in (E_available), 1 number out (E_total), 1 decision made.

1,237 words Tier 2 — protocol, not yet validated

Evidence Pillars (new in session 3)

Fact-checked biological foundation. Each document cites peer-reviewed anchors and labels its own epistemic tier.

soft-inheritance-evidence.md

The peer-reviewed biological foundation. Jablonka-Lamb four-inheritance framework, Överkalix/ALSPAC cohorts, Dias & Ressler, Skinner, plant TEI, yeast prions, C. elegans small RNA, trained immunity.

Honestly separates intergenerational (F1–F2) from transgenerational (F3+). Cites the Heard & Martienssen skeptic review.

2,070 words Tier 1 — peer-reviewed

field-state-evidence.md

Electromagnetic and biofield evidence without the sovereign-intent framing. HeartMath cardiac field, biophoton emission, biomagnetite, Schumann-EEG coherence, microbiome vertical transmission, EZ water, infrasound mechanotransduction.

Each claim tagged by tier. The Primordos-as-substrate hypothesis held as open, not established.

2,207 words Tier 1–2 — mixed

fungal-networks-case-study.md

The cleanest peer-reviewed physical analog of the Primordos concept. Common mycorrhizal networks (Simard 1997), aphid defense signal propagation (Babikova 2013), kin-biased network topology, electrical spiking in mycelia (Adamatzky 2025).

Maps canon concepts (Primordos, aura, resonance, indigo) onto fungal analogs — with explicit limits on what's peer-supported vs. speculative.

1,282 words Tier 1 — peer-reviewed

sovereign-intent-speculative-module.md

An optional 12-session course module, reframed from the original "Sovereign Intent" pitch. Keeps the rich pedagogy (HRV coherence, EMF hygiene, lineage practice) but relabels the underlying mechanism honestly.

Stages 1–2 of the loop are peer-supported; stages 3–4 are held as a research program, not a documented mechanism. Clearly Tier 3.

1,434 words Tier 3 — speculative, optional

Decisions & Sources

decisions/2026-06-25-merge-vs-separate.md

Decision record: should Hearts and Hourglasses be merged, or kept as 5 separate currencies? Three options (merge / separate / composite readout) with pros, cons, and a recommendation.

Status: proposed, pending Cohort Zero pilot feedback.

1,540 words decision record

sources/fact-check-notes.md

Verification status of every empirical claim in v2. Summary table + detailed verification for Dunbar, Altman & Taylor, Bernieri & Rosenthal, Giles, Gottman, damped-oscillator physics, hex geometry, Granovetter, ego-depletion.

Includes the "What we are NOT claiming" section and the v3 research agenda.

1,659 words fact-check

sources/oscillator-theory.md

The original source document for the Oscillator Model — the working-theory draft that proposed replacing Dunbar's number with a thermodynamic energy ceiling.

Preserved verbatim as reference.

1,134 words source

sources/cascade-hexgrid.pdf

The canonical 1-page Cascade hexgrid spec: "Room for 126. Grown from 6." The reference that anchors the 127-hex / 7-ring structure.

1 page source (PDF)

research/zo-pub-revswirl-dossier.md

The routing document for all 7 brainstorms from zo.pub/revswirl. Each brainstorm examined, fact-checked, tier-assigned, and routed toward v2 integration.

The most important internal doc — it's the decision log for what made it into v2 and what was archived or relabeled.

4,384 words routing / analysis

Session History

2026-06-11

v1 — Initial stable foundation

Five-Field framework, nine-brain architecture, Cascade integration (6-ring), WaterStorage, core claim revised to ⤫ co-arising.

2026-06-25 · S1

v2 session 1 — substrate replacement

Oscillator Model, Cascade Hexgrid spec, Energy Budget Protocol, fact-check notes, integration-with-v1, CHANGELOG. Source files staged.

2026-06-25 · S2

v2 session 2 — your four answers

"Still fluid" flagged. Honest-vs-functional tension (§5.5). R0 sovereign at center hex. Hearts vs Hourglasses decision record. Ego-depletion caveat + Granovetter axis added to fact-check.

2026-06-26 · S3

v2 session 3 — evidence pillars

7 brainstorms from zo.pub/revswirl examined and fact-checked. Dossier written. Three new core evidence docs (soft inheritance, field-state, fungal networks) + speculative module. All claims tier-tagged per the audit.

The load-bearing honest line (from the audit) Soft inheritance exists within tight biological constraints, bioelectricity is a real within-organism memory medium, and the leap from those facts to a universal field of consciousness is currently unsupported by the evidence presented. v2 adopts this as its guiding principle and applies it to every claim that crosses the Tier 2 → Tier 3 boundary.

Epistemic standard adopted in v2

Every claim that rests on empirical research is tagged with its tier: Tier 1 peer-reviewed, Tier 2 peer-grade / contested, Tier 3 speculative. Tier 3 content is included only when clearly labeled and pedagogically useful — never presented as established mechanism. See fact-check-notes.md for the full verification record.