Ecosystem#
If to hear (Brodmann’s Area 22) is to obey (Brodmann’s Area 44), then what remains of agency? In this formulation, perception is obedience, cognition is subjugation, and the self dissolves into a mechanism of pure receptivity, trapped in an endless loop of stimulus and response. This erasure of agency is not a theoretical abstraction but a neurological reality seen in schizophrenia, religious devotion, and collective rituals such as military cadence and the Dionysian chorus. Each of these domains reveals the same fundamental process: a dissolution of individual will into the overpowering demands of external command. The voice that speaks becomes indistinguishable from the voice that is heard, collapsing the distinction between self and other, between autonomy and submission.
Fig. 6 Deviens: To Deviate From the Group & Become One’s Own. Indeed, deviens (from the French verb devenir, “to become”) and deviating share a common Latin root: venire, meaning “to come.” Etymological Breakdown: 1. Devenir (deviens, 2nd-person singular present tense) From Latin devenire (“to come down, arrive at”), composed of: de- (“down, away, from”)venire (“to come”) 2. Deviate From Latin deviāre (“to turn aside, wander”), composed of: de- (“away, off”) via (“way, path”). Shared Concept: Both words imply movement away from a prior state or direction: Deviens (devenir) → Becoming something different, emerging as one’s own. Deviate (dévier) → Straying from an expected path, diverging from the group. Thematic Connection: This suggests that becoming (devenir) contains an implicit divergence from the collective, an individuation. To become oneself may require a deviation from predefined paths—so the journey of devenir might inherently include dévier at key junctures.#
Schizophrenia exemplifies this most starkly, where auditory hallucinations command the afflicted to act in ways that feel utterly involuntary. The schizophrenic does not hear voices so much as they are spoken by them, their actions dictated by an external force they cannot resist. The neuroanatomy supports this interpretation—activity in Brodmann’s Area 22, associated with auditory processing, seamlessly gives way to Brodmann’s Area 44, involved in speech production and verbal execution. The command is not deliberated upon; it is enacted. In religious devotion, this same mechanism is transformed into reverence. The voice of God, the imperative of scripture, or the divine commandment do not merely invite reflection—they demand obedience. The faithful do not question; they submit. Whether in Pentecostal glossolalia or the disciplined recitations of monastic chants, the neurological circuitry remains the same: the word enters, and the body follows.
Military cadence operates under identical principles. The call-and-response of drill instruction does not permit reflection, only reaction. The sergeant’s voice dictates reality, and the body moves accordingly. This is not persuasion but programming; not instruction but incarnation. The call is answered because there is no conceptual space for rejection. The cadence conditions not just movement but the mind itself, reinforcing an instinctual response structure that obliterates hesitation. In this sense, the military drill is a controlled schizophrenia, a deliberately induced condition where the voice of authority enters the mind unchallenged and is enacted without resistance.
The Dionysian chorus, often mistaken as a chaotic counterforce to rigid discipline, in fact operates under the same neurological paradigm. The rhythmic chanting, the pulsating beats, and the intoxicating movements are not expressions of individual will but its subjugation. The Maenads of Dionysian rituals did not merely dance; they were moved by forces beyond themselves. The chorus does not deliberate—it surrenders. In this frenzy, the distinction between self and other, speaker and listener, command and action dissolves. The individual becomes an instrument of something greater, carried by the rhythm of a force that possesses rather than persuades.
This realization collapses the traditional dichotomy between structure and spontaneity, between discipline and ecstasy. Whether in the regimentation of the military or the revelry of Dionysian abandon, the fundamental mechanism remains unchanged: to hear is to obey, and to obey is to dissolve into the command. If this is true, then what remains of free will? The answer, perhaps, is that agency is not a default state but a fragile anomaly, a flickering light in an overwhelming sea of external imperatives. If the human condition oscillates between schizophrenia and surrender, between divine command and military drill, then autonomy is not something given—it is something seized, something wrested from the voices that seek to claim us.
The cadence of the soldier and the chants of the Bacchants may seem like opposites, but they are merely variations on the same theme: the annihilation of the individual in service of a higher rhythm. The question is not whether we hear and obey—this is a given. The real question is whether, in those rare moments of silence between the calls, we can find a space to resist.
Show code cell source
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import networkx as nx
# Define the neural network layers
def define_layers():
return {
'Suis': ['Foundational', 'Grammar', 'Syntax', 'Punctuation', "Rhythm", 'Time'], # Static
'Voir': ['Data Flywheel'],
'Choisis': ['LLM', 'User'],
'Deviens': ['Action', 'Token', 'Rhythm.'],
"M'èléve": ['Victory', 'Payoff', 'NexToken', 'Time.', 'Cadence']
}
# Assign colors to nodes
def assign_colors():
color_map = {
'yellow': ['Data Flywheel'],
'paleturquoise': ['Time', 'User', 'Rhythm.', 'Cadence'],
'lightgreen': ["Rhythm", 'Token', 'Payoff', 'Time.', 'NexToken'],
'lightsalmon': ['Syntax', 'Punctuation', 'LLM', 'Action', 'Victory'],
}
return {node: color for color, nodes in color_map.items() for node in nodes}
# Define edge weights (hardcoded for editing)
def define_edges():
return {
('Foundational', 'Data Flywheel'): '1/99',
('Grammar', 'Data Flywheel'): '5/95',
('Syntax', 'Data Flywheel'): '20/80',
('Punctuation', 'Data Flywheel'): '51/49',
("Rhythm", 'Data Flywheel'): '80/20',
('Time', 'Data Flywheel'): '95/5',
('Data Flywheel', 'LLM'): '20/80',
('Data Flywheel', 'User'): '80/20',
('LLM', 'Action'): '49/51',
('LLM', 'Token'): '80/20',
('LLM', 'Rhythm.'): '95/5',
('User', 'Action'): '5/95',
('User', 'Token'): '20/80',
('User', 'Rhythm.'): '51/49',
('Action', 'Victory'): '80/20',
('Action', 'Payoff'): '85/15',
('Action', 'NexToken'): '90/10',
('Action', 'Time.'): '95/5',
('Action', 'Cadence'): '99/1',
('Token', 'Victory'): '1/9',
('Token', 'Payoff'): '1/8',
('Token', 'NexToken'): '1/7',
('Token', 'Time.'): '1/6',
('Token', 'Cadence'): '1/5',
('Rhythm.', 'Victory'): '1/99',
('Rhythm.', 'Payoff'): '5/95',
('Rhythm.', 'NexToken'): '10/90',
('Rhythm.', 'Time.'): '15/85',
('Rhythm.', 'Cadence'): '20/80'
}
# Calculate positions for nodes
def calculate_positions(layer, x_offset):
y_positions = np.linspace(-len(layer) / 2, len(layer) / 2, len(layer))
return [(x_offset, y) for y in y_positions]
# Create and visualize the neural network graph
def visualize_nn():
layers = define_layers()
colors = assign_colors()
edges = define_edges()
G = nx.DiGraph()
pos = {}
node_colors = []
# Create mapping from original node names to numbered labels
mapping = {}
counter = 1
for layer in layers.values():
for node in layer:
mapping[node] = f"{counter}. {node}"
counter += 1
# Add nodes with new numbered labels and assign positions
for i, (layer_name, nodes) in enumerate(layers.items()):
positions = calculate_positions(nodes, x_offset=i * 2)
for node, position in zip(nodes, positions):
new_node = mapping[node]
G.add_node(new_node, layer=layer_name)
pos[new_node] = position
node_colors.append(colors.get(node, 'lightgray'))
# Add edges with updated node labels
for (source, target), weight in edges.items():
if source in mapping and target in mapping:
new_source = mapping[source]
new_target = mapping[target]
G.add_edge(new_source, new_target, weight=weight)
# Draw the graph
plt.figure(figsize=(12, 8))
edges_labels = {(u, v): d["weight"] for u, v, d in G.edges(data=True)}
nx.draw(
G, pos, with_labels=True, node_color=node_colors, edge_color='gray',
node_size=3000, font_size=9, connectionstyle="arc3,rad=0.2"
)
nx.draw_networkx_edge_labels(G, pos, edge_labels=edges_labels, font_size=8)
plt.title("OPRAH™", fontsize=25)
plt.show()
# Run the visualization
visualize_nn()
Fig. 7 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Source: 2 Chronicles 16: 8-9. The grammar of these visuals is plain: there’s a space & time for the cooperative rhythm, transactional, and adversarial.#