The Network

Nodes and Connections

Your body is directed by a complex network of conscious, responsive units. I call those units nodes. I don’t know what a node is exactly. Nodes don’t know what they are either. They may be cells. They may be neurons. They may be parts of cells. They may be tissues. Regardless, small, simple, indivisible nodes connect with each other to form larger, more complex nodes with more complex capabilities. They connect to each other using the remote querying method discussed above. They also appear to perform physical actions as well, though I am not sure how those mechanisms work either.

Nodes, at the lowest level, connect with each other to coordinate and solve complex issues. Those interconnected nodes then connect with each other to form even more complex entities. Those then connect and cooperate to form even more complex entities, getting more and more complex until they can handle the situations that they find themselves in. I have found a few rare nodes to be over a hundred levels deep at their most complex. Some nodes, however, do not participate in interconnecting to form larger units. They remain solitary entities that do not contribute to unified cooperation on the network. A lot of this organization is dictated by preprogrammed instructions that nodes are born with. I call that preprogrammed information default instructions. What isn’t dictated by default instructions is decided dynamically by a node’s individual circumstances and external influences.

Network System Groups

While of the systems being communicated with across the network are likely part of the nervous system, their activities and purposes allow them to be categorized as either parts of particular systems or shared across multiple systems.

For more efficient questioning, I have equally separated out the systems of the body into four major categories: control systems, distribution systems, action/sensation systems, and intake/excretion systems.

1. Control systems
   1. Nervous system
   2. Endocrine system
   3. Meta system
2. Distribution systems
   1. Circulatory system
   2. Respiratory system
   3. Immune system
3. Action / sensation systems
   1. Skeletal system
   2. Muscular system
   3. Integumentary (skin) system
4. Intake / excretion systems
   1. Digestive system
   2. Renal (urinary) system
   3. Reproductive system

These systems can be further divided into subsystems.

• Nervous system
• Endocrine system
• Meta system
• Circulatory system
• Respiratory system
• Immune system
• Skeletal system
• Muscular system
• Integumentary (skin) system
• Digestive system
• Renal (urinary) system

You Are Here

With all this talk of the network structure inside you, you may wonder how you fit into that network. You are on the second level of the network, but only technically. The only node that you are contained within is a protected sector known as the home protected sector. It’s home because you live there. This protected sector is guarded by the home mover. Like any protected sector, the home protected sector is careful with how it allows interaction with its contents.

Beyond dealing with the home protected sector, interacting with your own node is a bit problematic. Nodes deal with each other by way of attention power. They push each other around to get what they want. Because you interact with the outside world, you have a lot of attention power behind you compared to other nodes on the network. You are like an attention hammer on a fragile network of glass. Even looking at your own node in the protected sector can result in your node’s contents freaking out about the power pointed in their direction. Other nodes may not know the power you can wield, but these nodes do. They understand what you are, implicitly, because they are you. They do not need a demonstration. They can get very uncomfortable about it; very uncomfortable and very scared. That fear results in an immediate fear response in you, since you are them. Looking at yourself is terrifying because you are scaring the nodes that have come together to form you. This is not a comfortable situation. They can get more comfortable with you eventually, based on your actions across the network, but until they do, it is best to leave them (yourself) alone entirely.

The Top-Level Inhibitor Problem

When a node is having issues with another node’s behavior interfering with its role in the body it will send inhibitory signals to the node that is interfering with it. It can recruit other nodes in this inhibitory process. However, occasionally it will see it necessary to set up an inhibitory node to send the inhibitory signal for it. This provides a more reliable inhibitory signal, as the node is dedicated. It also frees up the node’s attention for other tasks. When that newly made inhibitory node is no longer needed, however, it is informed of that and told to disassemble itself. It then stops sending the inhibitory signal and disassembles into its constituent parts. This break up is important to prevent it from reestablishing the inhibitory signalling on its own unnecessarily.

When it comes to nodes on the top level of the network, however, this is a problem. Top-level nodes do not normally have the attention power necessary to get a top-level inhibitory node to stop and disassemble itself. This is to prevent them from being stopped or disassembled by the node that they are inhibiting. This results in a littering of the top level of a network with defunct but still operational inhibitory nodes. These greatly reduce efficiency and can cause significant issues to compound over time as more inhibitor nodes litter the network landscape. The thinning of power makes this even worse to deal with, as even with amplification, they cannot be easily dismissed in large groups. This is the same problem as is discussed in 14.4 Water Intake Inhibitors and can be solved in the same way.

The Node Power Bias Problem

Less powerful nodes are more likely to be ignored in surveys, regardless of complexity. Surveying the network by asking about the layer a node is on, from the top-down, tends to result in very few of the total number of nodes at that level being counted as matching your survey criteria. Nodes get ignored due to too little power behind them. To properly count entities on the network, count based on levels of organization from at least two angles.

Every node has a minimum level from the top, represented by i for influence. Every node has a maximum level of complexity from the bottom, represented by c for complexity. An i1c20 node is not contained in any other nodes, but if you look at its contents you can step down a maximum of 20 layers of nodes to reach the bottom layer of indivisible nodes. An i1c1 node is not contained in any nodes and contains no nodes. It is both at the bottom layer and at the top layer. It is indivisible as a node.

My first attempt at replacing the top-down surveying method with this top-down+bottom-up surveying method resulted in a 94.6% increase in the discovery of top level nodes. To check to see if this new method is likely to cover the entire range of nodes, I asked about type C nodes, which do not wire into higher level nodes. They also maintain connections less than any other type of node. The top-down surveying method did not cover type C nodes, whereas the top-down+bottom-up surveying method does cover all type C nodes in surveys. This confirms that the new method is much more effective for network surveying purposes.