The Theory of General Specialism

The "Casual Conversation" portion of Instrumentation is only 1/256th (less than 0.4%) of the total address space. It provides a "Basic Interface Area" containing common words and conversational phrases which can be used for communication between any two people in the world.

This is not, however, the primary purpose of the Instrumentation 'language' (although it will likely be the most heavily used feature). Instrumentation is intended to be a universal human-computer interface. It is designed to provide access to all (web or remote enabled) facets of business, technology, lifestyle and entertainment. The Specialization layer will contain the names of all the things in the Animal, Vegetable and Mineral kingdoms, which will mostly have no 'functions' ("Don't brontosaurus your sister!"), but it will also contain names of processes and procedures which can actually perform the acts that they name.

From a linguistic standpoint, the Specialization layer is just a (very long) list of graduated groups of words that didn't fit within the inner three layers. Shifting to a 'Universal Remote' frame of reference transforms that list from 'words' to "Entities, Scenarios, Tools, Resources; Interfaces, Processes, Associations and Locations". These are the "Units of Control" which can be orchestrated into programs or procedures (or incantations) and thereby modify existing conditions. The Specialization layer can include all of the terms needed to designate, describe or manipulate any user's virtual scenario.

Specialization is the pivot around which Instrumentation transforms from a simplistic language to a generic interface with any "sufficiently advanced" environment. Because of this, Specialized terms change the order of glyph pronunciation from the conversational outgoing CDA (Creation then Description then Articulation) method to the mediating (meditative) inwardly focused SADC direction. Specialized terms can represent both 'projection' and 'selection' of desirable states.

By subsuming all aspects of a user's personal environment, the Specialization layer makes that environment part of the user's extended persona. This is why (self-)control of the environment is considered a passive or internal effort. This change in perspective reflects the conceptual shift from (Yang) outbound communication to an encompassing knowledge of, (Yin) and innate management of the available resources in your life.

Invocational Magic has always been concerned with the search for "True Names" (such as the "Sefirot", "De vulgari eloquentia" or the "characteristica universalis"). If a thing's True Name is known that thing can be summoned and controlled (in theory). The Specialization layer provides a way to uniquely name everything. When an automated thing knows its own true name it can respond to authorized commands in a predictable way. 'Truth' can now be consensual and Instrumentation can create amanuensis by using linguistic conventionalism to create a (pseudo) phonosemantic interface to the electronic Anima mundi. (Shazam -> Huzzah!)

Meanwhile ...

The Specialization layer is divided into 256 areas. Each area contains 16.7 million terms related to tasks and jargon specific to a field of endeavor. Each area can contain any words necessary to discuss or manage tasks related to its field. The difference between describing the features of a printer or an entertainment system and actually using those features can now be a matter of intent rather than ability in most cases.

We have a need to manage the world around us in a simple, consistent and efficient way. Instrumentation is attempting to provide a direct ten-finger to ten-key interface that can be used to 'conjure' useful actions from all the things that we have the authority to control.

Standardization can be implemented at the current level of automation (online only) and then expanded to simple physical devices like printers and entertainment systems as interfaces are developed. One single standard universal interface would enable an "N to one" correspondence between physical device drivers and universal 'wrappers'.

Instrumentation can be the standard interface to everything.

A semi-automated Example

Bob arrives home after a long day at the office.

He logs into his household system by transmitting an encoded glyph to his personal Wi-Fi hotspot. The house decodes the glyph using Bob's public key and verifies the value of the decoded glyph against the "password of the day", which was randomly selected before Bob left the house in the morning.

Now that Bob has established his identity and credentials (using public-key encryption) the house will unlock the front door and give Bob access to all household systems. If extra security is desired, biometric checks can be added before entry is allowed.

Inside the house, Bob directs the entertainment system to provide music, sends a 'wake-up call' to the thermostat for the central heating and cooling system and programs the microwave oven to begin a defrost cycle on a steak. He (manually) removes the steak from the freezer and (manually) checks the dishwasher to be sure that the broiling rack is ready for use.

He changes his clothes (manually) and checks his local news feed for any live music that matches his current preferences. Finding an interesting band playing at a nearby venue, he sends messages to several friends that have registered similar musical tastes. 

Bob checks the refrigerator inventory to see if he needs to buy any food. He decides to pick up a quart of milk and scans the websites of local grocery stores to see if anyone has a sale on milk. He then adds a reminder (buy milk Bob!) to his schedule for the next day.

One of Bob's friends responds that she would enjoy seeing the band and that she will meet Bob at the club around eight o'clock.

Bob cancels the microwave defrost cycle and puts the steak back in the freezer (manually). He transmits a saved message (a template) to a local pizza place which creates an order for his favorite pizza.

While waiting for the pizza to show up, Bob checks his news feed again for weather and construction that might alter his commute to work the next day. Finding no major problems he programs his alarm clock to wake him at the usual time.

When the pizza arrives Bob verifies the tab and credits the driver's account for the price of the pizza and a tip. The transaction is confirmed by Bob's bank after the driver is verified as a known employee of the pizza place.

Bob eats the pizza (manually) and watches a documentary about modern skyscraper construction. While the commercials are on he searches for information about the architects mentioned in the documentary. He discovers that the local collage will be hosting a seminar on nearby construction efforts. Bob then programs his personal search daemon (or spider) to check for live audio or video feeds on the day of the seminar.

After finishing the pizza and the documentary, Bob investigates the home page of the band he is going to see. He reads the biographies of the band members, checks their list of songs and listens to samples of their work.

Bob schedules a taxi to pick him up at twenty to eight and take him to the club. He then generates a new (random) password so that the house system can verify his identity when he returns from the club. He sets the thermostat to 'save energy!' and the answering machine to "don't actually record telemarketing calls".

The taxi arrives and Bob verifies the drivers arrest record before establishing a credit link with the cab's meter. Payment will be handled in a manner similar to the pizza transaction.

Bob goes to the club (manually) and enjoys an evening of music and conversation with his friend. He establishes a tab with the bar and gets a temporary access code for entering orders with his waitress.

When the band is finished Bob schedules another taxi to take him home. Unfortunately his friend has to be at work early the next day. Bob will be more diligent about checking her schedule the next time he sends her a heads-up about a local band.

Bob returns home and logs into his house. He sets the thermostat for 'sleep' and then sets the shower temperature and pressure to 'Comforting'. He takes a shower (manually) and then makes a final check for received messages.

Bob reads a message in a "construction techniques" interest group that he follows. It is from a distant friend who also enjoyed the skyscraper documentary. Bob posts a link to the dynamic (potential and ephemeral) results page for his search spider in case anyone in the interest group wants to receive live audio or video feeds from Bob's local collage seminar.

Bob goes to sleep (manually) and dreams of electric sheep. In the morning he instructs his home system to download the movie 'Bladerunner' while he is at work.

All of the (non-manual) tasks in this scenario could be performed using an Instrumentation interface and a suitable device.


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