TC Relationship¶
Status: parked. TC (Tri-Contour Dynamics of Limited Resource Allocation) stays adjacent until a stronger relationship to physics is researched. Nothing in POW's core depends on TC, and the POW agent does not use TC concepts in diagnosis.
Revised 2026-10-01 after a TC-agent review. The original table mapped Lewontin's conditions for selection onto TC's allocation demands: a category error.
Observed correspondence (revised)¶
| POW construct | TC construct | Fit |
|---|---|---|
| Self-maintenance (D2), maintain functions | Survival contour | Strong |
| Copy + run existing constraint at throughput | Reproduction contour | Medium (TC R includes throughput, not only copying) |
| Variation + cheap-media selection + retention (D8) | Evolution contour | Medium (variation alone ≠ E) |
| Differential persistence | Outcome of S/R/E allocation under environment (System Course) | Not a contour |
| Steer, Allocate | Allocation logic + mediators (not a contour) | Structural |
| Information as persistent constraint | Code | Strong |
| Function cost (Q1) | Edge cost in resource topology | Depends on TC v2-provisional topology |
| Selector / metric / proxy drift | Signal, Receiver, mediators; Code–Narrative divergence | Strong |
Evidence caveat: convergence is not confirmation¶
Both models share life-science ancestry, the same author, and much of the same AI-assisted vocabulary. Close wording (e.g. TC "Code Genesis by Emergence" vs POW D2) is therefore weak evidence. A link counts only if it yields a prediction one model makes and the other doesn't, or a derivation from independent premises.
Open tensions (updated)¶
- Money: resource vs metric. Resolves by level. POW "resource" = physical substrate; TC "resource" = anything limited and allocatable within a declared frame. State the level when comparing.
- Information. TC splits it into Code (substrate), Signal (dynamics), Potential (accumulation) and informational resource nodes. POW's single term maps mainly to Code.
- Shared ancestry. See caveat above.
Bridge candidates¶
- Time constants (physics-native, hypothesis): S ~ structural decay rate; R ~ copy/throughput cycle; E ~ gradient-shift rate. Expressible in POW without TC vocabulary.
- Dynamic Energy Budget theory (Kooijman): derives allocation into maintenance, growth, maturation, reproduction with maintenance priority. Test of whether a physics-first route reaches E or stops at S/R.
Divergence candidates¶
| Prediction | Models compared | Real divergence? |
|---|---|---|
| Displacement order follows relative decay vs gradient-shift rates, regardless of Code | Time-constant reading vs TC | Yes (TC-internal test) |
| AI: cheap variation + binding selection → novelty without consolidation (TC: Churn) | POW D9 + variation table vs TC | No: both predict it; agreement, not a test |
Research question¶
See Q11 (reframed) and Q12–Q13 in Open Questions.