Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1772: Barrier of Coordination

"The first Omni Barrier is known as the Barrier of Complexity. The second is known as the Barrier of Coordination. The third is known as the Barrier of Noise. The fourth is known as the Barrier of Causality. The fifth is known as the Barrier of Identity. The sixth is known as the Barrier of Meaning. The final is known as the Barrier of Existence.

"The first is as you know: Moore's Law, transistor density, heat dissipation, problems of quantum tunneling. But it is, most importantly and functionally, a problem that better engineering and energy can fix.

"The second barrier is the same. It requires larger scales, but the fix is identical. This touches onto concepts you know as Distributed Systems Theory, the problem of coordinating large-scale projects across many nodes and distances.

"Fundamentally, this is a problem of the speed of light, and the issue of latency.

"The third barrier is when the problems truly become more complex. Systems operate on such a small scale that quantum noise, thermal randomness, and even the most minor of measurement uncertainties on the level of the smallest unit in existence become issues.

"The fourth problem arises when issues with the speed of light are resolved and quantum noise takes a back seat. You begin to deal with issues in your Relativity theory. Causality becomes an issue, and breaking the laws of the speed of light creates contradictions and can destroy a technology before it is even fully fledged.

"The fifth problem comes when the fourth Barrier is overcome. It is mainly a problem with the philosophical method you've thought of not long ago... the Ship of Theseus."

Sylas' eyes narrowed. The Omnimous reading his thoughts in real time was one thing. It reading thoughts he had already had was another.

The Ship of Theseus referred to the repaired ship contemplated paradox he had thought of when Germaine was practically losing her mind. How much of a ship could you repair until it was considered an entirely new ship?

On the quantum level, things were always changing. Even if you stood in the same spot, you weren't always breathing in the same oxygen molecules. They were morphing, changing, becoming something new.

When you were crafting something that relied on the smallest segments of the universe to remain constant and true, but the laws of the universe itself required constant change and constant chaos, how could you ensure consistency?

This was the essence of the Barrier of Identity.

What would you do as photons constantly crashed into your system? What if a particle wanted to randomly tunnel or swap places with its partner of opposite spin? How could you account for all of these things?

"The sixth Barrier, the Barrier of Meaning... this is already approaching the limits of the Omnimous before you must make a decision. This is no longer a raw limitation of technology itself, but rather the universe and the creator. When you are creating things on this scale, they are so close to becoming their own ecosystems that you must try to define things that cannot be properly designed.

"Your people know this as the Gödel-like incompleteness, a theorem that states that any consistent, formal axiomatic system powerful enough to describe basic arithmetic will always contain true statements that cannot be proven within the system, and conversely, false statements likewise cannot be disproven.

"Systems on this level are so large that they can only rely on themselves, but because of that, they require definitions that only the universe has-truths so real and basic that they can only be understood by crafting entire worlds.

"And once you've reached that level, only the seventh barrier remains... the Barrier of Existence.

"At this level, your system has grown so large that it must face what all levels of existence must: entropy. Chaos. The end of all things and their tendency toward destruction."

Sylas stood in silence for a long while. When the Omnimous used the word system, it wasn't referring to systems as he knew them. Rather, it was using the word in a general sense, much the same way a company might have a proprietary software known as a system as well... But that subtle difference, as small and insignificant as it was...

Sylas felt meant the absolute world to the Omnimous. In fact, he felt that it would be quite offended if he thought of the two as one and the same.

One worked with the universe... while the Omnimous was insistent on creating something independent from the world.

"How do these Omni Barriers overlap with the Tiers and Classes?"

"The third Barrier, the Barrier of Noise, is the highest Omni Barrier that can be crossed up to the C-tier. At the B- tier, you can potentially cross the fourth. At the A-tier, you can potentially cross the fifth. Touching the sixth is not possible until the S-tier. As for the seventh... it will require making a choice.

"However, for Classes, it is more complex, as there is some overlap. From Class 1 to 5, you will receive some concepts of Omni Barriers one through three, but not a full scope. Only at Class 6 will you be assured to learn of everything, and you will learn about some of the fourth Omni Barrier. The details here are probably unimportant to you, as since you are of Class 10, you will receive the full scope of everything.

"Though, since you only have F-tier clearance right now, you will only be learning the proper foundation for what can be allowed in future Tiers. This will also help your F-tier creations to be upgradeable."

"Andromeda." Sylas looked toward Old Brama's magnum opus. "What level of technology is it?"

"This is the creation of someone who was not a full Omni Disciple. But it has successfully touched onto the second Barrier at the C-tier. It seems to have been tweaked so that it can be used by any Tier, though, and that has weakened many of its aspects. There are some faint concepts of the third Barrier incorporated as well."

Sylas nodded. Technology wasn't straightforward, nor was progress. Though the Barriers felt like hard lines, there was bound to be some variation.

"I need to create something at the F-tier that is at least two orders of magnitude more effective than it-ideally three. What do I need?"

The Omnimous was silent for a while before it spoke.

"This is possible with a perfect grasp of the second Omni Barrier, the Barrier of Coordination. But it will take time even to grasp the first, even with your shortcut method."

"Let me worry about that."

Now that Sylas had a goal, he lost himself in learning these so-called Omni Methods. But as he did so...

His thoughts constantly flickered toward Rune Mastery.

Using Will and Charisma to force the world into obedience, crafting mechanical parts so that they fused and functioned well together... everything he learned, he constantly felt the need to incorporate some Rune Mastery, but the Omnimous never asked him such a thing.

Instead, he learned circuit building and software programming, he learned how to weld and how to craft smaller systems to automate the creation of larger ones.

And every building block he stacked, the stronger the itch became.