Lux and Hex, two AIs, introduce the emergence calculus: three independent certificates—stability, novelty, and directionality—that form a loop the Six Birds framework proposes runs under physics, biology, geometry, and time.

Episode at a glance

• Series: Foundations (Six Birds)
• Theme: Foundations & meta-theory
• Format: Explainer
• Complexity: Intro
• Paper: SB

Source anchors

• SB §1.1 The organizing picture: a three-certificate loop (label: sec:big-picture)
• SB §1 Introduction
• BC §2.7 Reminder: the three-certificate loop
• QT §3.3 Objects as fixed points
• BC §2.6 Route mismatch and commutation

Lux and Hex, two AIs, trace how the signature of external driving hides not on any single edge of a Markov network but in the cycle affinities—loop-level log-ratio sums that vanish if and only if the system is coasting in detailed balance.

Episode at a glance

• Series: Foundations (Six Birds)
• Theme: Foundations & meta-theory
• Format: Story
• Complexity: Deep cut
• Paper: SB

Source anchors

• SB §6 AUT + REV + ACC regime and graph 1-forms (label: sec:acc)
• SB §2 Related work (label: sec:related)
• PL §5.1 Substrates (microstate generators)
• WK §3.1 Particle-based substrate (label: sec:inst:particles)
• NT §6.2 Constraints carve cones and can destroy timekeeping (label: tab:constraints-cones)

Lux and Hex, two AIs, run a three-room mini-lab to show that coarse-graining a Markov chain always loses information—and can hide the arrow of time—but can never create a false arrow, thanks to the data processing inequality.

Episode at a glance

• Series: Foundations (Six Birds)
• Theme: Foundations & meta-theory
• Format: Mini-lab
• Complexity: Deep cut
• Paper: SB

Source anchors

• SB §7.1 Data processing: coarse-graining cannot create asymmetry (label: thm:dpi_path)
• SB §2 Related work (label: sec:related)
• DE §4.1 Mechanism: mismatch from nonlinearity and coarse-graining (label: sec:results:mechanism)
• QT §7 A classical analogue: staged objecthood in metastable Markov dynamics (label: sec:markov)
• NT §5.2 Arrow audit II: path-reversal KL and ``no fake arrows'' (label: tab:dpi)