Freeze Frame

The Frozen Gene puts the wood to the ghost of TENS after Probability Zero’s Kinzhal strike

Andreas Cellarius, The Moon showing its motion in an eccentric orbit with epicycles, Harmonia macrocosmica seu atlas universalis et novus, totius universi creati cosmographiam generalem, et novam exhibens. Plate 18, 1661

Preliminary review of The Frozen Gene, the second part of Vox Day’s Mathematics of Evolution. The book and its implications are too significant for one post. This one will frame the conflict between math and House of Lies fake faith. As well as look at a main argument involving properties of large numbers.

The Frozen Gene builds on Probability Zero’s part one. That one prompted a few posts reviewing and looking into context and implications. The impact is that significant. The Frozen Gene further explores the mathematical impossibility of TENS. Arguments are developed, implications worked out, and potential yeah, buts snuffed out. If it’s less shocking on account of being second, it benefits from the time in between. No doubt there will be a few posts here given the issues that have bubbled up.

Readers are probably familiar with the first. The pathological behavior patterns from the FTS-2 masses in response to Probability Zero. A long term and lasting impact was expected from the first read. As was an excited Gamma reaction. But the full-on noontide of the NPC has been enlightening.¹ The follow-up may not be as triggering as first contact, but the combined effect of the two will leave a lasting scar.

Anyhow, this book is laid out a bit differently. A series of scientific papers, each with a more expository introductory essay. This format distils the argument into a clear presentation with the detailed calculations following. It’s very effective. I don’t always feel the need to check over every equation and formula. But it’s nice for those times when I did want to see where something is coming from to have it so accessible.

James Ferguson, Proof Against the Ptolemaic System, from Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles, And Made Easy to Those who Have Not Studied Mathematics, 1756

The papers take up various mathematical problems with aspects of TENS and its epicycles. Building on Probability Zero while driving home the need for new questions. If the biological clocks sit on faulty math, what serious biology enthusiast wouldn’t be curious about the reality? The format suggests these were topics that came up while writing the first book. That this many substantive pieces could follow so quickly says more about the state of the discourse than I can.

The pattern of [impossible math that was never considered] continues here. It’s a problem with the basic structure of the discourse itself. Methodologically, evolutionary biology appears to be crowd-sourced rhetorical narrative. There’s nowhere in there to support or implement universal internal logic. And math is universally consistent quantitative symbolic logic.

The Science! is working on multiple informational levels simultaneously. Hierarchical arrangements always set a high conceptual floor. In the simplest form, there’s the discourse as a set of practices, cultures and knowledge base. And there’s where that discourse fits in reality. High-functioning NPCs can grasp a lot of just-so stories, their histories, and bigger pictures they’re said to make. But they can’t step out of that picture and see how it relates to other discursive frames. Or external reality.

This opens a new angle on the FTS phenomenon. The Science! is run by a higher-functioning sub-…”species” where [discourse] replaces [screen]. Otherwise, its structurally similar, just a tad more sophisticated.

Frontispiece of William King Gregory, Evolution Emerging: A Survey of Changing Patterns from Primeval Life to Man, vol. 2, 1951, p. 757; English version of Ernst Haeckel’s Tree of Life from the The Evolution of Man , 1879; Ernst Haeckel, General Morpohology of Organisms, 1866; Paleontological tree of vertebrates from Ernst Haeckel, The Evolution of Man, 5th edition, London, 1910.

A mid-tier NPC’s base code slowly changes as repeated screen impressions build into feelings. That’s when contrary things trigger defensive anger and inability to process information. The higher level NPC consciously masters the discourse to the limit of their ability. Some appear able to manipulate it into new patterns like a current AI.

But they’re no different from any other NPC when it comes to accepting the House of Lies and its assumptions as bedrock reality. So any challenge to their world view and The Science!’s place in it is a triggering event.

Hence the inability to engage with mathematical critique. It literally doesn’t compute. Because it can’t. Like feeding a floppy disc into a punch card reader. This was apparent from averaging being a stumper in Probability Zero. And when an arithmetic mean is a bridge too far, where does something like the Bernoulli Barrier fall?

The problem is one identified in an earlier post. Math is essential to the truth claims of modern science. A controlled experiment is a frame of reference. If the logic - the theory - holds, then the experimental outcome shows it. This is what is meant by “predictive”. If a theory is sound, and the circumstances applicable, you know how it will come out. If the theory isn’t sound, the real outcomes will be different from what the theory predicted.

Consistency creates standards to correct and refine theories. It’s why the Scientific Method outperforms [just making things up] as a source of knowledge. Appeal to phantasy up might “explain” a current problem. But the lack of consistency piles up until mutual exclusivities start appearing. Which is where The Frozen Gene and Probability Zero are with TENS.

Some logic. It’s a categorical syllogism for any evolutionary biologists still reading. If TENS is mathematically impossible. And math is pure quantitative symbolic logic. Then TENS is illogical.

Not true in a logic-based scientific frame of reference. And given the fundamental nature of the logic errors, they’re not going away without our understanding of mathematics proving false. But math is logically extrapolated from the self-evident quantitatve truths of basic addition. Unlike just-so stories, the measure of its truth or falsehood comes with it. A theorem is not accepted as “true” until logically demonstrated. Proven. Which is where TENS falls flat.

In classic Scientific Method terms, logical failure is a good thing. It allows the scientist to dismiss a hypothesis without even needing the time and resources to test it experimentally. It’s when the internal logic holds but the applicability is uncertain that experiments have to be designed and run. Clinging to something in the face of logical disproof is the opposite of scientific. The inverse.

Epistemologically, it looks like faith. But faith belongs in domains where logic and observation fail. And it doesn’t contradict them. It’s not surprising to read the Biblical story of the Fall, then note physics and human morality are naturally entropic. The narrative specifics are known by faith. But the fruits are consistent with logic and observation. They corroborate, not contradict. Faith in the demonstrably false is something different. Where demons and NPCs frolic together.

Painting of knights attempting a leap of faith to reach the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, at National Geographic Museum in Washington D.C.

How faith works.

It’s knowledge that is known without direct logical or empirical confirmation. I differentiate this from materialist pattern recognition that troubled a Gamma like Hume. Faith in sunrise is based on a life of unvarying observation. Different from faith in metaphysical dogmas that I can’t observe or reason out.

These different epistemological modes - logic, observation, faith - exist because different kinds of knowledge make different demands.

Alexandre Cabanel, The Death of Icarus, 1857, oil on canvas

Faith doesn’t apply to things that are observable or logically transparent. Those are verifiable, empirical claims based on coherent, replicable causal processes. Whether I can lift a car, for example. This matters because what we can do with the knowledge depends on the mode. The sort of ways we can use it to understand.

Faith lays the foundations for logical operations and material observations. The ontological frame of reference. Things beyond general logical necessity that aren’t perceptible. I believe the universe was Created to order and number, therefore logical abstractions are universal.

It’s clear in the pattern, where TENS is accepted as given before any analysis starts. A shadow world where the measure of a theory’s validity is proof of preconception. And a pure logic proof of intrinsic impossibility draws recitations from impossible scripture. The same scripture ruled out by the logical proof. But bringing logic to a faith fight is a category mismatch. Won’t say error, because the logic is appropriate here and the faith retarded.

Any discussion begins with the Truth of TENS. It’s axiomatic. There’s no need point out how, because it’s impossible. But it’s a safe limb to be out on because all the screens agree it has to be right somehow.

High-functioning NPC biologists, probably

Which is a category error. Not science but a !religion that fails applicability of real religion. Beast nonsense, where the only real catechism is opposition to Christianity. As a connoisseur of unintentional self-pwnage, the irony of this particular group outing themselves as ignorant worshippers…

For example the discussions of the Law of Large Numbers and what is called the Bernoulli Barrier. Both are purely mathematical properties that rule out just-so canon. And the inability of narrative-huffers to grasp them is the [false faith - infocognition] gulf. The problem is basic logical impossibility. It doesn’t matter what the context, large quantities behave in absolutely logical coherent and invariant ways. Readers know it as the absolute precision and perfection of Abstract Reality.

Evolutionary biology uses more of a faith-based collective story-telling approach. So long as something can be woven into the story, it can be “true”. Retcons are allowed, but have to be classifiable as unfortunate errors of progress. This is fine for fiction if the different writers gel. Because internal coherence is what matters.

But evolutionary biology belongs to The Science!. Claims to be true materially. Even gathers selective bits of physical “evidence” for props in the narrative. And reality is consistently quantifiable. The stories have to conform to Abstract Reality as Materially manifest. Their quantities and relations are subject to the same mathematical rules as anything else claimed to have really happened.

Like the Law of Large Numbers developed by Jakob Bernoulli (1654–1705), one of a remarkable family of mathematicians.² I’ve noted before that math can behave in unintuitive ways once we move past basic algebra and geometry. Like the difference between Zeno’s Paradox and walking to the store. Statistics are especially vexing for the layNPC. Aggregate quantities look different as percentages. Portions of a whole, where increase is proximity to a limit, not open growth down a number line.

Basically, Bernoulli shows the set of real outcomes is a product of the number of trials. So number of trials is in the denominator of the expected deviation function. So as trials → infinity, variance → 0 or similarity to 1. It’s not controversial. Here’s a simple version of the proof with a plot showing individual deviations converging.

This matters because it rules out the possibility of parallel mutations as a solution. That was the answer to the MITTENS problem of not enough time for genetic divergence to fix. Improbable as it sounds, they fix in clusters. With objections over the improbability handwaved away by invoking trillions and trillions. Bernoulli turns the vast number of trials into hard proof of impossibility.

If genes spread → fixation in clumps, the clumps are moving like composite individual genes. Spreading from those who have the beneficial cluster to those without. But the individual alleles in the composite still have to be random mutations. Probabilities of occurrence at each gene with each generation. But Bernoulli shows the bigger the trial pool, the more distribution evens out probabilistically. Trillions and trillions actually makes clustering impossible. Beneficial alleles are randomly distributed across the human population, not clustered in X-Men. As the historic genetic data corroborates.

Arguing whether it predicts the exact human future is equal parts missing the point and retarded.

Coming to the frozen part of The Frozen Gene. If beneficial mutations are randomly flickering in and out of the gene pool without fixing, there’s no more natural selection of any kind occurring. The implications for the current rise in spiteful mutants will be discussed in the main review post. But if Bernoulli rules out positive fixation happening by random drift. And we’ve eliminated selection pressure through medicine and welfare…

Anyhow, random distribution of positive mutations and no culling of the unfit creates a figure/ground problem.

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: White on White, 1918, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Malevich is a super-hero in the House of Lies Art! narrative. The tale of philanthropic satanists hiring plucky atavists to destroy a tradition that took centuries to refine. The jibber-jabber is freeing art from “representation” and making the subject the physical object. Painted forms on canvas. But even he has to differentiate his whites or else nothing shows at all. We need contrast for perception. The monochrome panel is a future stroke of genius.

Selection requires differentiation to measure which is better. To make a … well … selection. To differentiate the better from the worse. According to TENS, the metric for genetic mutations is positive material outcome. Like the peacock with the brightest feathers attracting the best mates. But if positive mutations are just circulating in random Ort Clouds it’s not only parallel clusters that are nuked. There’s no way for any one positive allele to stand out as the winner.

Or for the non-mathematical…

This is plenty long for an introductory review. The next post can look at the rest of the main arguments and some implications. Like the irony of Wright-Fisher being … rong. Or assuming complete generational population turnover. No matter how many times they heard it, pansy isn’t literal. As for implications, narrative huffers shrilling with fingers in ears are a short term irritant. But the demonstration stands. Despite one amusing high-functioning NPC self-pwning “critically”.

Close on a personal note. The NPC reaction patterns have been beneficial for my own social observations. Predictably triggered and uncomprehending. But the thicker swarm reveals more detailed look at their behavior. As Bernoulli shows, more random dolts → sharper realization of the underlying random dolt patterns.

Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketchem

1. Actually enlightening, as in increasing knowledge and expanding consciousness. Not a firehose of lies and self-worship. That’s the capital-E Enlightenment.

2. The Frozen Gene discusses the family. The family mathematicians: Jakob (1654–1705): calculus and probability, Bernoulli numbers and law of large numbers; Johann (1667–1748): advanced calculus, introduced the term “integral,”; Nicolaus (1687–1759): probability and infinite series; Nicolaus (1695–1726): differential equations and geometry; Daniel (1700–1782): fluid dynamics and probability and statistics; Johann II (1710–1790): physics and mathematics; Johann III (1744–1807): astronomy and probability; Jakob II (1759–1789): elasticity and hydrodynamics