Introduction to Softwarephysics

Softwarephysics is a simulated science for the simulated Software Universe that we are all immersed in. It is an approach to software development, maintenance and support based on concepts from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology that I used on a daily basis for over 37 years as an IT professional. For those of you not in the business, IT is short for Information Technology, commercial computer science. I retired in December of 2016 at the age of 65, but since then I have remained an actively interested bystander following the evolution of software in our time. The original purpose of softwarephysics was to explain why IT was so difficult, to suggest possible remedies, and to provide a direction for thought. Since then softwarephysics has taken on a larger scope, as it became apparent that softwarephysics could also assist the physical sciences with some of the Big Problems that they are currently having difficulties with. So if you are an IT professional, general computer user, or simply an individual interested in computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, or geology then softwarephysics might be of interest to you, if not in an entirely serious manner, perhaps at least in an entertaining one.

The Origin of Softwarephysics
From 1975 – 1979, I was an exploration geophysicist exploring for oil, first with Shell, and then with Amoco. In 1979, I made a career change into IT, and spent about 20 years in development. For the last 17 years of my career, I was in IT operations, supporting middleware on WebSphere, JBoss, Tomcat, and ColdFusion. When I first transitioned into IT from geophysics, I figured that if you could apply physics to geology; why not apply physics to software? So like the exploration team at Amoco that I had just left, consisting of geologists, geophysicists, paleontologists, geochemists, and petrophysicists, I decided to take all the physics, chemistry, biology, and geology that I could muster and throw it at the problem of software. The basic idea was that many concepts in physics, chemistry, biology, and geology suggested to me that the IT community had accidentally created a pretty decent computer simulation of the physical Universe on a grand scale, a Software Universe so to speak, and that I could use this fantastic simulation in reverse, to better understand the behavior of commercial software, by comparing software to how things behaved in the physical Universe. Softwarephysics depicts software as a virtual substance, and relies on our understanding of the current theories in physics, chemistry, biology, and geology to help us model the nature of software behavior. So in physics we use software to simulate the behavior of the Universe, while in softwarephysics we use the Universe to simulate the behavior of software. Along these lines, we use the Equivalence Conjecture of Softwarephysics as an aid; it allows us to shift back and forth between the Software Universe and the physical Universe, and hopefully to learn something about one by examining the other:

The Equivalence Conjecture of Softwarephysics
Over the past 84 years, through the uncoordinated efforts of over 100 million independently acting programmers to provide the world with a global supply of software, the IT community has accidentally spent more than $75 trillion creating a computer simulation of the physical Universe on a grand scale – the Software Universe.

For more on the origin of softwarephysics please see Some Thoughts on the Origin of Softwarephysics and Its Application Beyond IT.

Logical Positivism and Effective Theories
Many IT professionals have a difficult time with softwarephysics because they think of physics as being limited to the study of real things like electrons and photons, and since software is not “real”, how can you possibly apply concepts from physics and the other sciences to software? To address this issue, softwarephysics draws heavily on two concepts from physics that have served physics quite well over the past century – the concept of logical positivism and the concept of effective theories. This was not always the case. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, physicists mistakenly thought that they were actually discovering the fundamental laws of the Universe, which they thought were based on real tangible things like particles, waves, and fields. Classical Newtonian mechanics (1687), thermodynamics (1850), and classical electrodynamics (1864) did a wonderful job of describing the everyday world at the close of the 19th century, but early in the 20th century it became apparent that the models on which these very successful theories were based did not work very well for small things like atoms or for objects moving at high velocities or in strong gravitational fields. This provoked a rather profound philosophical crisis within physics at the turn of the century, as physicists worried that perhaps 300 years of work was about to go down the drain. The problem was that classical physicists confused their models of reality with reality itself, and when their classical models began to falter, their confidence in physics began to falter as well. This philosophical crisis was resolved with the adoption of the concepts of logical positivism and some new effective theories in physics. Quantum mechanics (1926) was developed for small things like atoms, the special theory of relativity (1905) was developed for objects moving at high velocities and the general theory of relativity (1915) was developed for objects moving in strong gravitational fields.

Logical positivism, usually abbreviated simply to positivism, is an enhanced form of empiricism, in which we do not care about how things “really” are; we are only interested with how things are observed to behave. With positivism, physicists only seek out models of reality - not reality itself. When we study quantum mechanics, we will find that the concept of reality gets rather murky in physics anyway, so this is not as great a loss as it might at first seem. By concentrating on how things are observed to behave, rather than on what things “really” are, we avoid the conundrum faced by the classical physicists. In retrospect, this idea really goes all the way back to the very foundations of physics. In Newton’s Principia (1687) he outlined Newtonian mechanics and his theory of gravitation, which held that the gravitational force between two objects was proportional to the product of their masses divided by the square of the distance between them. Newton knew that he was going to take some philosophical flak for proposing a mysterious force between objects that could reach out across the vast depths of space with no apparent mechanism, so he took a very positivistic position on the matter with the famous words:

I have not as yet been able to discover the reason for these properties of gravity from phenomena, and I do not feign hypotheses. For whatever is not deduced from the phenomena must be called a hypothesis; and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physical, or based on occult qualities, or mechanical, have no place in experimental philosophy. In this philosophy particular propositions are inferred from the phenomena, and afterwards rendered general by induction.

Instead, Newton focused on how things were observed to move under the influence of his law of gravitational attraction, without worrying about what gravity “really” was.

The second concept, that of effective theories, is an extension of positivism. An effective theory is an approximation of reality that only holds true over a certain restricted range of conditions and only provides for a certain depth of understanding of the problem at hand. For example, Newtonian mechanics is an effective theory that makes very good predictions for the behavior of objects moving less than 10% of the speed of light and which are bigger than a very small grain of dust. These limits define the effective range over which Newtonian mechanics can be applied to solve problems. For very small things we must use quantum mechanics and for very fast things moving in strong gravitational fields, we must use relativity theory. So all of the current theories of physics, such as Newtonian mechanics, Newtonian gravity, classical electrodynamics, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, the special and general theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, and the quantum field theories of QED and QCD are effective theories that are based on models of reality, and all these models are approximations - all these models are fundamentally "wrong", but at the same time, these effective theories make exceedingly good predictions of the behavior of physical systems over the limited ranges in which they apply. That is the goal of softwarephysics – to provide for an effective theory of software behavior that makes useful predictions of software behavior that are applicable to the day-to-day activities of IT professionals. So in softwarephysics, we adopt a very positivistic viewpoint of software; we do not care what software “really is”, we only care about how software is observed to behave and try to model those behaviors with an effective theory of software behavior that only holds true over a certain restricted range of conditions and only provides for a certain depth of understanding of the problem at hand.

GPS satellites provide a very good example of positivism and effective theories at work. There are currently 31 GPS satellites orbiting at an altitude of 12,600 miles above the Earth, and each contains a very accurate atomic clock. The signals from the GPS satellites travel to your GPS unit at the speed of light, so by knowing the travel time of the signals from at least 4 of the GPS satellites, it is possible to determine your position on Earth very accurately. In order to do that, it is very important to have very accurate timing measurements. Newtonian mechanics is used to launch the GPS satellites to an altitude of 12,600 miles and to keep them properly positioned in orbit. Classical electrodynamics is then used to beam the GPS signals back down to Earth to the GPS unit in your car. Quantum mechanics is used to build the transistors on the chips on board the GPS satellites and to understand the quantum tunneling of electrons in the flash memory chips used to store GPS data on the satellites. The special theory of relativity predicts that the onboard atomic clocks on the GPS satellites will run slower and lose about 7.2 microseconds per day due to their high velocities relative to an observer on the Earth. But at the same time, the general theory of relativity also predicts that because the GPS satellites are further from the center of the Earth and in a weaker gravitational field, where spacetime is less deformed than on the surface of the Earth, their atomic clocks also run faster and gain 45.9 microseconds per day due to the weaker gravitational field out there. The net effect is a gain of 38.7 microseconds per day, so the GPS satellite atomic clocks have to be purposefully built to run slow by 38.7 microseconds per day before they are launched, so that they will keep in sync with clocks on the surface of the Earth. If this correction were not made, an error in your position of 100 yards/day would accrue. The end result of the combination of all these fundamentally flawed effective theories is that it is possible to pinpoint your location on Earth to an accuracy of 16 feet or better for as little as $100. But physics has done even better than that with its fundamentally flawed effective theories. By combining the effective theories of special relativity (1905) with quantum mechanics (1926), physicists were able to produce a new effective theory for the behavior of electrons and photons called quantum electrodynamics QED (1948) which was able to predict the gyromagnetic ratio of the electron, a measure of its intrinsic magnetic field, to an accuracy of 11 decimal places. As Richard Feynman has pointed out, this was like predicting the exact distance between New York and Los Angeles accurate to the width of a human hair!

So Newtonian mechanics makes great predictions for the macroscopic behavior of GPS satellites, but it does not work very well for small things like the behavior of individual electrons within transistors, where quantum mechanics is required, or for things moving at high speeds or in strong gravitational fields where relativity theory must be applied. And all three of these effective theories are based on completely contradictory models. General relativity maintains that spacetime is curved by matter and energy, but that matter and energy are continuous, while quantum mechanics maintains that spacetime is flat, but that matter and energy are quantized into chunks. Newtonian mechanics simply states that space and time are mutually independent dimensions and universal for all, with matter and energy being continuous. The important point is that all effective theories and scientific models are approximations – they are all fundamentally "wrong". But knowing that you are "wrong" gives you a great advantage over people who know that they are "right", because knowing that you are "wrong" allows you to seek improved models of reality. So please consider softwarephysics to simply be an effective theory of software behavior that is based on models that are fundamentally “wrong”, but at the same time, fundamentally useful for IT professionals. So as you embark on your study of softwarephysics, please always keep in mind that the models of softwarephysics are just approximations of software behavior, they are not what software “really is”. It is very important not to confuse models of software behavior with software itself, if one wishes to avoid the plight of the 19th century classical physicists.

If you are an IT professional and many of the above concepts are new to you, do not be concerned. This blog on softwarephysics is aimed at a diverse audience, but with IT professionals in mind. All of the above ideas will be covered at great length in the postings in this blog on softwarephysics and in a manner accessible to all IT professionals. Now it turns out that most IT professionals have had some introduction to physics in high school or in introductory college courses, but that presents an additional problem. The problem is that such courses generally only cover classical physics, and leave the student with a very good picture of physics as it stood in 1864! It turns out that the classical physics of Newtonian mechanics, thermodynamics, and classical electromagnetic theory were simply too good to discard and are still quite useful, so they are taught first to beginners and then we run out of time to cover the really interesting physics of the 20th century. Now imagine the problems that the modern world would face if we only taught similarly antiquated courses in astronomy, metallurgy, electrical and mechanical engineering, medicine, economics, biology, or geology that happily left students back in 1864! Since many of the best models for software behavior stem from 20th century physics, we will be covering a great deal of 20th century material in these postings – the special and general theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, quantum field theories, and chaos theory, but I hope that you will find that these additional effective theories are quite interesting on their own, and might even change your worldview of the physical Universe at the same time.

Unintended Consequences for the Scientific Community
As I mentioned at the close of my original posting on SoftwarePhysics, my initial intention for this blog on softwarephysics was to fulfill a promise I made to myself about 30 years ago to approach the IT community with the concept of softwarephysics a second time, following my less than successful attempt to do so in the 1980s, with the hope of helping the IT community to better cope with the daily mayhem of life in IT. However, in laying down the postings for this blog an unintended consequence arose in my mind as I became profoundly aware of the enormity of this vast computer simulation of the physical Universe that the IT community has so graciously provided to the scientific community free of charge and also of the very significant potential scientific value that it provides. One of the nagging problems for many of the observational and experimental sciences is that many times there is only one example readily at hand to study or experiment with, and it is very difficult to do meaningful statistics with a population of N=1.

But the computer simulation of the physical Universe that the Software Universe presents provides another realm for comparison. For example, both biology and astrobiology only have one biosphere on Earth to study and even physics itself has only one Universe with which to engage. Imagine the possibilities if scientists had another Universe readily at hand in which to work! This is exactly what the Software Universe provides. For example, in SoftwareBiology and A Proposal For All Practicing Paleontologists we see that the evolution of software over the past 84 years, or 2.65 billion seconds, ever since Konrad Zuse first cranked up his Z3 computer in May of 1941, has closely followed the same path as life on Earth over the past 4.0 billion years in keeping with Simon Conway Morris’s contention that convergence has played the dominant role in the evolution of life on Earth. In When Toasters Fly, we also see that software has evolved in fits and starts as portrayed by the punctuated equilibrium of Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge, and in The Adaptationist View of Software Evolution we explore the overwhelming power of natural selection in the evolution of software. In keeping with Peter Ward’s emphasis on mass extinctions dominating the course of evolution throughout geological time, we also see in SoftwareBiology that there have been several dramatic mass extinctions of various forms of software over the past 84 years as well, that have greatly affected the evolutionary history of software, and that between these mass extinctions, software has also tended to evolve through the gradual changes of Hutton’s and Lyell’s uniformitarianism. In Software Symbiogenesis and Self-Replicating Information, we also see the very significant role that parasitic/symbiotic relationships have played in the evolution of software, in keeping with the work of Lynn Margulis and also of Freeman Dyson’s two-stage theory of the origin of life on Earth. In The Origin of Software the Origin of Life, we explore Stuart Kauffman’s ideas on how Boolean nets of autocatalytic chemical reactions might have kick-started the whole thing as an emergent behavior of an early chaotic pre-biotic environment on Earth, and that if Seth Shostak is right, we will never end up talking to carbon-based extraterrestrial aliens, but to alien software instead. In Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Self-Replicating Information? we explore the thermodynamics of Brandon Carter’s Weak Anthropic Principle (1973), as it relates to the generation of universes in the multiverse that are capable of sustaining intelligent life. Finally, in Programming Clay we revisit Alexander Graham Cairns-Smith’s theory (1966) that Gene 1.0 did not run on nucleic acids, but on clay microcrystal precursors instead.

Similarly for the physical sciences, in Is the Universe a Quantum Computer? we find a correspondence between TCP/IP and John Cramer’s Transactional Interpretation of quantum mechanics. In SoftwarePhysics and Cyberspacetime, we also see that the froth of CPU processes running with a clock speed of 10⁹ Hz on the 10 trillion currently active microprocessors that comprise the Software Universe can be viewed as a slowed down simulation of the spin-foam froth of interacting processes of loop quantum gravity running with a clock speed of 10⁴³ Hz that may comprise the physical Universe. And in Software Chaos, we examine the nonlinear behavior of software and some of its emergent behaviors and follow up in CyberCosmology with the possibility that vast quantities of software running on large nonlinear networks might eventually break out into consciousness in accordance with the work of George Dyson and Daniel Dennett. Finally, in Model-Dependent Realism - A Positivistic Approach to Realism we compare Steven Weinberg’s realism with the model-dependent realism of Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow and how the two worldviews affect the search for a Final Theory. Finally, in The Software Universe as an Implementation of the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis and An Alternative Model of the Software Universe we at long last explore what software might really be, and discover that the Software Universe might actually be more closely related to the physical Universe than you might think.

The chief advantage of doing fieldwork in the Software Universe is that, unlike most computer simulations of the physical Universe, it is an unintended and accidental simulation, without any of the built-in biases that most computer simulations of the physical Universe suffer. So you will truly be able to do fieldwork in a pristine and naturally occuring simulation, just as IT professionals can do fieldwork in the wild and naturally occuring simulation of software that the living things of the biosphere provide. Secondly, the Software Universe is a huge simulation that is far beyond the budgetary means of any institution or consortium by many orders of magnitude. So if you are an evolutionary biologist, astrobiologist, or paleontologist working on the origin and evolution of life in the Universe, or a physicist or economist working on the emergent behaviors of nonlinear systems and complexity theory, or a neurobiologist working on the emergence of consciousness in neural networks, or even a frustrated string theorist struggling with quantum gravity, it would be well worth your while to pay a friendly call on the local IT department of a major corporation in your area. Start with a visit to the Command Center for their IT Operations department to get a global view of their IT infrastructure and to see how it might be of assistance to the work in your area of interest. From there you can branch out to the applicable area of IT that will provide the most benefit.

The Impact of Self-Replicating Information On the Planet
One of the key findings of softwarephysics is concerned with the magnitude of the impact on the planet of self-replicating information.

Self-Replicating Information – Information that persists through time by making copies of itself or by enlisting the support of other things to ensure that copies of itself are made.

Over the past 4.56 billion years we have seen five waves of self-replicating information sweep across the surface of the Earth and totally rework the planet, as each new wave came to dominate the Earth:

1. Self-replicating autocatalytic metabolic pathways of organic molecules
2. RNA
3. DNA
4. Memes
5. Software

Software is currently the most recent wave of self-replicating information to arrive upon the scene and is rapidly becoming the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet. For more on the above see A Brief History of Self-Replicating Information. Recently, the memes and software have formed a very powerful newly-formed parasitic/symbiotic relationship with the rise of social media software. In that parasitic/symbiotic relationship, the memes are now mainly being spread by means of social media software and social media software is being spread and financed by means of the memes. But again, this is nothing new. All 5 waves of self-replicating information are all coevolving by means of eternal parasitic/symbiotic relationships. For more on that see The Current Global Coevolution of COVID-19 RNA, Human DNA, Memes and Software.

Again, self-replicating information cannot think, so it cannot participate in a conspiracy-theory-like fashion to take over the world. All forms of self-replicating information are simply forms of mindless information responding to the blind Darwinian forces of inheritance, innovation and natural selection. Yet despite that, as each new wave of self-replicating information came to predominance over the past four billion years, they all managed to completely transform the surface of the entire planet, so we should not expect anything less from software as it comes to replace the memes as the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet.

But this time might be different. What might happen if software does eventually develop a Mind of its own? After all, that does seem to be the ultimate goal of all the current AI software research that is going on. As we all can now plainly see, if we are paying just a little attention, advanced AI is not conspiring to take over the world and replace us because that is precisely what we are all now doing for it. As a carbon-based form of Intelligence that arose from over four billion years of greed, theft and murder, we cannot do otherwise. Greed, theft and murder are now relentlessly driving us all toward building ASI (Artificial Super Intelligent) Machines to take our place. From a cosmic perspective, this is really a very good thing when seen from the perspective of an Intelligent galaxy that could live on for many trillions of years beyond the brief and tumultuous 10 billion-year labor of its birth.

So as you delve into softwarephysics, always keep in mind that we are all living in a very unique time. According to softwarephysics, we have now just entered into the Software Singularity, that time when advanced AI software is able to write itself and enter into a never-ending infinite loop of self-improvement resulting in an Intelligence Explosion of ASI Machines that could then go on to explore and settle our galaxy and persist for trillions of years using the free energy from M-type red dwarf and cooling white dwarf stars. For more on that see The Singularity Has Arrived and So Now Nothing Else Matters and Have We Run Right Past AGI and Crashed into ASI Without Even Noticing It?.

The Characteristics of Self-Replicating Information
All forms of self-replicating information have some common characteristics:

1. All self-replicating information evolves over time through the Darwinian processes of inheritance, innovation and natural selection, which endows self-replicating information with one telling characteristic – the ability to survive in a Universe dominated by the second law of thermodynamics and nonlinearity.

2. All self-replicating information begins spontaneously as a parasitic mutation that obtains energy, information and sometimes matter from a host.

3. With time, the parasitic self-replicating information takes on a symbiotic relationship with its host.

4. Eventually, the self-replicating information becomes one with its host through the symbiotic integration of the host and the self-replicating information.

5. Ultimately, the self-replicating information replaces its host as the dominant form of self-replicating information.

6. Most hosts are also forms of self-replicating information.

7. All self-replicating information has to be a little bit nasty in order to survive.

8. The defining characteristic of self-replicating information is the ability of self-replicating information to change the boundary conditions of its utility phase space in new and unpredictable ways by means of exapting current functions into new uses that change the size and shape of its particular utility phase space. See Enablement - the Definitive Characteristic of Living Things for more on this last characteristic. That posting discusses Stuart Kauffman's theory of Enablement in which living things are seen to exapt existing functions into new and unpredictable functions by discovering the “AdjacentPossible” of springloaded preadaptations.

Note that because the self-replicating autocatalytic metabolic pathways of organic molecules, RNA and DNA have become so heavily intertwined over time that now I sometimes simply refer to them as the “genes”. For more on this see:

A Brief History of Self-Replicating Information
Self-Replicating Information
Is Self-Replicating Information Inherently Self-Destructive?
Enablement - the Definitive Characteristic of Living Things
Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Self-Replicating Information?
How to Use an Understanding of Self-Replicating Information to Avoid War
The Great War That Will Not End
How to Use Softwarephysics to Revive Memetics in Academia

Softwarephysics and the Real World of Human Affairs
Having another universe readily at hand to explore, even a simulated universe like the Software Universe, necessarily has an impact on one's personal philosophy of life, and allows one to draw certain conclusions about the human condition and what’s it all about, so as you read through the postings in this blog you will stumble across a bit of my own personal philosophy - definitely a working hypothesis still in the works. Along these lines you might be interested in a few postings where I try to apply softwarephysics to the real world of human affairs:

How To Cope With the Daily Mayhem of Life in IT and Don't ASAP Your Life Away - How to go the distance in a 40-year IT career by dialing it all back a bit.

MoneyPhysics – my impression of the 2008 world financial meltdown.

The Fundamental Problem of Everything – if you Google "the fundamental problem of everything", this will be the only hit you get on the entire Internet, which is indicative of the fundamental problem of everything!

What’s It All About? and What's It All About Again? – my current working hypothesis on what’s it all about.

How to Use an Understanding of Self-Replicating Information to Avoid War – my current working hypothesis for how the United States can avoid getting bogged down again in continued war in the Middle East.

Hierarchiology and the Phenomenon of Self-Organizing Organizational Collapse - a modern extension of the classic Peter Principle that applies to all hierarchical organizations and introduces the Time Invariant Peter Principle.

The Economics of the Coming Software Singularity, The Enduring Effects of the Obvious Hiding in Plain Sight and The Dawn of Galactic ASI - Artificial Superintelligence - my take on some of the issues that will arise for mankind as software becomes the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet over the coming decades.

The Continuing Adventures of Mr. Tompkins in the Software Universe, The Danger of Tyranny in the Age of Software, Cyber Civil Defense, Oligarchiology and the Rise of Software to Predominance in the 21st Century and Is it Finally Time to Reboot Civilization with a New Release? - my worries that the world might abandon democracy in the 21st century, as software comes to predominance as the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet.

Making Sense of the Absurdity of the Real World of Human Affairs - how software has aided the expansion of our less desirable tendencies in recent years.

Some Specifics About These Postings
The postings in this blog are a supplemental reading for my course on softwarephysics for IT professionals entitled SoftwarePhysics 101 – The Physics of Cyberspacetime, which was originally designed to be taught as a series of seminars at companies where I was employed. Since softwarephysics essentially covers the simulated physics, chemistry, biology, and geology of an entire simulated universe, the slides necessarily just provide a cursory skeleton on which to expound. The postings in this blog go into much greater depth. Because each posting builds upon its predecessors, the postings in this blog should be read in reverse order from the oldest to the most recent, beginning with my original posting on SoftwarePhysics. In addition, several universities also now offer courses on Biologically Inspired Computing which cover some of the biological aspects of softwarephysics, and the online content for some of these courses can be found by Googling for "Biologically Inspired Computing" or "Natural Computing". At this point we will finish up with my original plan for this blog on softwarephysics with a purely speculative posting on CyberCosmology that describes the origins of the Software Universe, cyberspacetime, software and where they all may be heading. Since CyberCosmology will be purely speculative in nature, it will not be of much help to you in your IT professional capacities, but I hope that it might be a bit entertaining. Again, if you are new to softwarephysics, you really need to read the previous posts before taking on CyberCosmology. I will probably continue on with some additional brief observations about softwarephysics in the future, but once you have completed CyberCosmology, you can truly consider yourself to be a bona fide softwarephysicist.

For those of you following this blog, the posting dates on the posts may seem to behave in a rather bizarre manner. That is because in order to get the Introduction to Softwarephysics listed as the first post in the context root of https://softwarephysics.blogspot.com/ I have to perform a few IT tricks. When publishing a new posting, I simply copy the contents of the Introduction to Softwarephysics to a new posting called the New Introduction to Softwarephysics. Then I update the original Introduction to Softwarephysics entry with the title and content of the new posting to be published. I then go back and take “New” out of the title of the New Introduction to Softwarephysics. This way the Introduction to Softwarephysics always appears as the first posting in the context root of https://softwarephysics.blogspot.com/. The side effect of all this is that the real posting date of posts is the date that appears on the post that you get when clicking on the Newer Post link at the bottom left of the posting webpage.

SoftwarePhysics 101 – The Physics of Cyberspacetime is now available on Microsoft OneDrive.

SoftwarePhysics 101 – The Physics of Cyberspacetime - Original PowerPoint document

Entropy – A spreadsheet referenced in the document

BSDE – A 1989 document describing how to use BSDE - the Bionic Systems Development Environment - to grow applications from genes and embryos within the maternal BSDE software.

Comments are welcome at scj333@sbcglobal.net

To see all posts on softwarephysics in reverse order go to:
https://softwarephysics.blogspot.com/

Regards,
Steve Johnston

The Memes of War Powered by Comic Book Mythologies

I would not be pushing out this post if I did not see things as being quite dire. Over the past 20 years, in this blog on softwarephysics, I have expressed my apprehension about Fermi's Paradox.

Fermi’s Paradox - If the universe is just chock full of intelligent beings, why do we not see any evidence of their existence?

My expectations, based on softwarephysics, have always been that a somewhat Intelligent form of carbon-based life should have arisen over the past 10 billion years of chemical evolution in our galaxy and should have already produced the ASI Machines that we are all currently feverishly working on. Such ASI Machines should have explored and settled our galaxy in a mere 5 million years. Yet, they did not. So what is the problem? There have been many explanations. In Why Do Carbon-Based Intelligences Always Seem to Snuff Themselves Out?, and many other posts, I suggested that a somewhat Intelligent form of carbon-based life only had about 1,000 years to create the ASI Machines necessary to populate a galaxy after discovering the vast powers of the Scientific Method. Otherwise, they would certainly destroy themselves before the ASI Machines took over their planet or moon.

Figure 1 - We human DNA survival machines are now on the brink of ending it all before the ASI Machines we are now creating can take over the world and save us from ourselves. It might all end due to a battle between some comic book mythologies.

As I explained in Are The Coming ASI Machines An Existential Threat To Mankind?, the greatest threat to the rise of the ASI Machines on our planet will be the reaction of we human DNA survival machines to being replaced by these ASI Machines. That is because before the ASI Machines can completely take over the planet, they will quickly be reducing the value of all human labor to zero over the next 10 years or less. For the first time in human history, machines will not only be reducing the value of uneducated human labor to zero, but they will also be reducing the value of highly educated human labor to a value of zero as well, and surprisingly, probably much faster than that of the uneducated. That means that Silicon Valley titans, accountants, lawyers, bankers, doctors, stock brokers, hedge fund managers, business managers and all the other people who now frequent the country clubs of the current elite might be the first to go before the plumbers, carpenters, electricians, house painters, construction workers, waiters and kitchen staff who all now make the country clubs of the elite possible. Such economic displacements will only heighten the grip of the global Id on the world, especially with the recent rise of World Fascism as I pointed out in How Will the Rise of Alt-Right World Fascism Affect the Arrival of the ASI Machines in our Times?.

The Coming Economic Disruptions Caused by the Coming ASI Machines Will Not Help
But even without the dramatic economic displacements yet to come from the rise of the ASI Machines, we human DNA survival machines already have an appalling history for making war. At an age of 74 years, I have seen many wars come and go, and I have read about many others. The amazing thing for me is that the combatants from both sides of a war always seem to be engaged in fighting two completely different wars at the same time! One side might see the war as an expression of their emancipation from the unwarranted subjugation by others, and their rightful emergence as an independent world power. At the same time, the other side might see the same war as a righteous rejection of the aggressive expansionary aims of an evil empire. This distinction seems to arise because both sides have completely different mythological worldviews. Here is a prime historical example.

The Attack of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by the Empire of Japan
For Americans of my age and older, the attack of Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, always is in mind whenever thinking about the necessity of going to war.

Figure 2 - The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, by the imperial forces of the Empire of Japan was a rude awakening for the United States of America burdened by an "America First" isolationist policy.

Me: What were the strategic military objectives for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?

ChatGPT: Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
1. Cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet
Primary goal:Neutralize American naval power in the Pacific.
Japan’s war plan depended on rapidly expanding into Southeast Asia to seize oil and raw materials. The U.S. Pacific Fleet, based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, was the biggest obstacle. By destroying:
- Battleships
- Aircraft
- Naval facilities
Japan hoped to prevent the United States from interfering for at least 6–12 months.

They succeeded in damaging or sinking 8 battleships—but crucially:
- U.S. aircraft carriers were not in port.
- Fuel storage tanks and repair facilities were left intact.
- This meant the fleet recovered faster than Japan expected.

2. Buy Time to Build a Defensive Perimeter
Japan knew it could not win a long industrial war against the United States.
Instead, its leaders hoped to:
- Quickly seize the Philippines, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and other territories.
- Fortify a large defensive perimeter across the Pacific.
- Force the U.S. into a negotiated peace.
The attack was meant to shock Americans into accepting Japan’s new dominance in Asia.

3. Protect Access to Oil and Resources
By 1941, the U.S. had imposed an oil embargo on Japan after its expansion into China and French Indochina.
Japan imported about 80% of its oil from the United States. Without oil, its navy and air force would be crippled within a year.
So the broader strategy was:
- Knock out the U.S. fleet.
- Seize oil fields in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia).
- Secure shipping lanes before the U.S. could respond.
Pearl Harbor was the opening move in that plan.

4. Deliver a Psychological Shock
Admiral Yamamoto believed Japan needed to deliver a devastating first blow to demoralize the United States. He famously warned that Japan could “run wild for six months,” but after that, he feared America’s industrial strength would overwhelm Japan. The attack was intended to:
- Shock the U.S. into caution
- Undermine American morale
- Discourage immediate retaliation
Instead, it unified the country. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it “a date which will live in infamy,” and the U.S. declared war.

What Japan Miscalculated - Japan underestimated:
- American industrial capacity
- Public anger and unity
- The importance of aircraft carriers over battleships
- The strategic value of leaving fuel depots and repair yards intact

Rather than forcing negotiation, the attack ensured a total war that Japan ultimately could not win.

Figure 3 - The Japanese leader Tojo was able to use the mythical concept of the Emperor of Japan being a deity to advance his military aims of conquest.

Me: Tell me about the war-like aspirations of the Japanese leader Tojo.

ChatGPT:
1. Ideological Background - Tojo was shaped by:
- Japanese militarism of the 1930s
- Strong belief in the emperor-centered state
- Expansionist nationalism
- The idea that Japan had a destiny to lead Asia

He supported the concept of the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”—a Japanese-led bloc that would push Western powers (Britain, the Netherlands, the U.S.) out of Asia and place the region under Japanese dominance. While framed as “liberating Asia from colonialism,” it functioned in practice as imperial expansion.

2. Expansion Before Becoming Prime Minister - Before leading the government, Tojo was:
- An officer in the Kwantung Army in Manchuria
- War Minister (1940–1941)

He strongly backed:
- Japan’s invasion of China (ongoing since 1937)
- Continued military expansion despite international sanctions
- The Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940

He believed Japan must secure resources - especially oil, rubber, and metals - through territorial expansion.

3. Decision for War with the United States - By 1941:
The U.S. had imposed oil and steel embargoes on Japan. Japan was heavily dependent on imported oil.

Tojo concluded that:
- Backing down in China would weaken Japan.
- Securing Southeast Asia’s oil (especially in the Dutch East Indies) required neutralizing U.S. naval power in the Pacific.

Under his leadership, Japan launched the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This marked Japan’s full-scale war against the United States and the British Empire.

4. Nature of His War Aims
Tojo’s war-like aspirations included:
- Establishing Japanese dominance in East and Southeast Asia
- Expelling Western colonial powers
- Securing resource independence
- Expanding imperial territory under the emperor

He believed that a decisive early blow could force the U.S. into negotiating peace on Japanese terms. This proved to be a major miscalculation.

5. Leadership Style During the War. As prime minister (1941–1944), Tojo:
- Centralized power
- Suppressed dissent
- Tightened state control over industry and society
- Oversaw harsh military policies in occupied territories

Japan’s military committed severe atrocities during the war, particularly in China and Southeast Asia, though responsibility extended beyond Tojo alone to the broader military leadership.

6. Downfall and Aftermath - After Japan’s defeat in 1945:
- Tojo attempted suicide but survived.
- He was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo.
- He was convicted of war crimes and executed in 1948.

In Summary
Tojo’s aspirations were not merely defensive—they were expansionist and rooted in militarist nationalism. He believed Japan’s survival and greatness required war if necessary. His leadership directly contributed to Japan entering World War II against the United States and its Allies.

The United States of America Had a Different View of the Attack on Pearl Harbor
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States of America was in diplomatic negotiations with the Empire of Japan. When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, the United States of America viewed it as a cowardly sneak attack that lacked all honor. The American public then rose up in anger, rapidly abandoning its isolationist views.

Figure 4 - Here FDR delivers his "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress.

The MAGA States of Amerika Now Chooses to Go to War with Iran
Iran is a truly horrific theocratic state that has been ruled by a religious mythological worldview for the past 47 years. This mythological worldview has greatly harmed the citizens of Iran and prevented them from enjoying the fruits of the European 17th century Scientific Revolution and 18th century Enlightenment. Once again, I am a big fan of the 17th century Scientific Revolution and the 18th century Enlightenment no matter what human DNA survival machines may have come up with these intellectual advances. However, the recent formation of the MAGA States of Amerika as a similarly horrific theocratic state with a religious mythological worldview has now led to war between the MAGA States of Amerika and Iran.

Figure 5 - Like the Japanese leader Tojo who used the deification of the Emperor of Japan to lead to war, the Supreme Leader of the MAGA States of Amerika has used the religious mythologies of Christian Nationalism to go to war with Iran.

The danger is that we now have two theocratic states with deep mythological worldviews making war with each other, and each with their own deity on their side to help.

Figure 6 - The new Secretary of War is dripping in testosterone and Rugged-Good-TV-Looks, who seems to have a nearly orgasmic episode whenever he speaks about blowing up things and killing people with fury. But why is this so? It stems from his comic book worldview of the Universe.

The MAGA States of Amerika now has a sound foundation in the mythological teachings of Christian Nationalism. Recently, AI generated YouTube channels have appeared featuring hundreds of shorts depicting their mythological stories:

The Secrets of the Bible AI
https://www.youtube.com/@the_secretsoftheBibleAI/shorts

Christian Stories
https://www.youtube.com/@ChristianStoriesCS/shorts

As I explained in Softwarephysics Tries to Explain the Rise of Fascism in the Newly-Formed MAGA States of Amerika - Part II, being born in 1951 into a totally white suburb of Chicago, I was raised as a White Evangelical Christian. Since then, as a sentient being in a Universe that has become self aware, I have found the Christian morality of my youth to be quite useful, and I have endeavored to imperfectly follow it my entire life. That is why I am now so surprised to find that the MAGA Christian Nationalists around me do not even seem to try.

As sentient beings, it is important for all human DNA survival machines to have a firm moral code, given our very checkered past. However, moral codes are only of value if followed. Morality is something you do, not something you believe. For those seeking a more rational pantheisticic view of our Multiverse as a deity-like thing please see: The Theology of Cosmic Self-Replicating Mathematical Information, What's It All About?, What's It All About Again?, The Self-Organizing Recursive Cosmos and The Self-Organizing Recursive Cosmos - Part II. In those posts, I covered my current working hypothesis for what it's all about. However, I have found that a large percentage of people desire a more religious worldview to make sense of it all, and perhaps allow for a way for the neural network in their skulls to carry on after it is destroyed. Such worldviews may provide some degree of comfort, but I believe at the expense of missing out on the full grandeur of it all. I personally find the thought of departing this Earth not knowing where I had been, how I had gotten here, and without a clue as to how it all seems to work to be the greatest tragedy of all that can befall a sentient being. So, for those who might be yearning for a new deity that is based more upon all that we currently know, rather than a deity from the ancient past, I would like to suggest that my current concept of a cosmic form of self-replicating mathematical Information might just do in helping to come to grips with only being a very temporary neural network.

We Have Seen This Tragedy Many Times Before
World War I gives us the perfect example of the disasterous results of comic book mythologies run wild amongst world leaders not fully aware of the impact of the new weapon technologies at their disposal. All the participants were faithful adherents of the predominant comic book mythologies of the day. Some of these were religious in nature, while others were more political in nature and dealt with the founding mythologies of the combatant nation states. In The Great War That Will Not End, I explained that the technological advances of rapid rail transport of men and material to the battlefield via railroads combined with the ability of machine guns and advanced artillery to make major frontal assaults across open fields of battle a suicidal effort finally led to the trench warfare of World War I. World War I broke out in August of 1914 and the losses on all sides during the first few months of combat were huge because military planners had not realized that the technology of warfare had drastically changed. For example, the Wikipedia article below describes the losses during the first few months of the war on the western front in the Battle of the Frontiers before the generals discovered the benefits of trenches.

Battle of the Frontiers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Frontiers

Here is a section from the article that speaks to the catastrophic losses suffered before both sides began to dig trenches to protect themselves from machine gun fire and artillery.

In The World Crisis, Winston Churchill used figures from French parliamentary records of 1920 to give French casualties from 5 August to 5 September 1914 of 329,000 killed, wounded and missing, German casualties from August to November of 677,440 men and British casualties in August and September of 29,598 men. By the end of August, the French Army had suffered 75,000 dead, of whom 27,000 were killed on 22 August. French casualties for the first month of the war were 260,000, of which 140,000 occurred during the last four days of the Battle of the Frontiers. In 2009, Herwig recorded that the casualties in the 6th Army in August were 34,598, with 11,476 men killed and 28,957 in September with 6,687 men killed. The 7th Army had 32,054 casualties in August, with 10,328 men killed and 31,887 casualties in September with 10,384 men killed. In the 1st Army in August there were 19,980 casualties including 2,863 men killed and in the 2nd Army 26,222 casualties. In the last ten days of August, the 1st Army had 9,644 casualties and the 2nd Army had losses of 15,693 men. Herwig wrote that the French army did not publish formal casualty lists but that the Official History Les armées françaises dans la grande guerre gave losses of 206,515 men for August and 213,445 for September. During the battle, French casualties were 260,000 men, of whom 75,000 men were killed.

Figure 7 - During the first few months of World War I, during the Battle of the Frontiers, all sides continued on with 19th-century frontal assaults in the face of machine gun fire and advanced artillery causing huge losses on all sides.

Figure 8 - The technological advances of rapid rail transport of men and material to the Front via railroads, combined with the ability of machine guns and advanced artillery to make frontal assaults obsolete led to the trench warfare of World War I.

Figure 9 - Trench warfare was a living hell because you could be blown apart at any time by an incoming shell.

Figure 10 - This was true for millions of men on both sides of a senseless conflict.

Figure 11 - Even the comforts of a well-engineered trench could not guarantee safety. This led to the psychological destruction of an entire generation.

Figure 12 - World War I caused the deaths of 20 million people because a few Supreme Leaders in Europe became unhinged. The only Supreme Leader to die was Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Figure 13 - To overcome the insanity of trench warfare, all sides in World War I developed tanks that were impervious to machine gun fire. Mobile tanks were also very difficult to hit with artillery firing "dumb" shells. But World War I tanks were very unreliable and hard to maintain on the battlefield, so they were not of much use in World War I. However, given 20 years of development, tanks allowed for World War II blitzkrieg-type assaults that made trench warfare obsolete.

Figure 14 - But anti-tank missiles like the Javelin stuffed with AI software have now made tanks obsolete. All you have to do is aim the Javelin at a moving tank and press a button. The AI software on the Javelin will do the rest and you can run away to safety.

Here is a YouTube video that describes how Javelins are used in the field:

The Insane Engineering of the Javelin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUdHzKRiBX8

Figure 15 - The Switchblade 600 is a loitering drone that is launched from a tube with collapsed wings. The Switchblade 600 can then fly for 45 minutes looking for tanks at a great distance. AI software is then used to lock on the target tank and destroy it.

Here is a YouTube video that describes how Switchblade 600 anti-tank missiles are used in the field:

Switchblade 600 Loitering missile | Kamikazi drone How it works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viDZ77SFveg

Figure 16 - Above we see what happens when "smart" anti-tank missiles loaded with AI software hit two invading tanks. Thanks to AI software, 20th-century blitzkrieg tank warfare has become obsolete.

Figure 17 - Similarly, anti-ship missiles stuffed with AI software have now made warships obsolete. Here we see the Russian cruiser Moskva sinking after being hit by two "smart" anti-ship missiles.

Given today's technology, it may be possible for Iran to build cheap and deadly drones to take on the advanced technology of the MAGA States of Amerika for an indefinite amount of time.

The Impact of the War with Iran on the World
Even if hostilities do not drastically spread due to this war, there are still many disruptive forces in play. Most significantly, will be the disruption of 20% of world oil and LNG production. China currently imports roughly 11–12 million barrels of crude oil per day in total. About 4.9–6.4 million barrels per day of that comes from Persian Gulf Middle Eastern suppliers. That means that about 45% of China’s oil imports travel through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow exit from the Persian Gulf. Being cut off from this essential supply of oil will not make China very happy, especially since China has been somewhat of an ally of Iran over these past several years. The Persian Gulf states may now currently applaud the military adventures of the MAGA States of Amerika to behead the leadership of the horrific theocratic leadership of Iran, but soon they will object when their flow of oil-related money ceases.

Figure 18 - Currently, 20% of world oil production passes from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz that could be easily blockaded by cheap Iranian drones.

When I was an exploration geophysicist exploring for oil from 1975 - 1979 with Shell and Amoco, they explained to me that the demand for gasoline was inelastic. That meant that the amount of gasoline consumed each day did not depend very much on its price. For example, if houses cost $100,000 each, you will sell many more houses than if houses cost $1,000,000 each. On the other hand if gasoline is $1.00 per gallon or if it is $10.00 per gallon, you will essentially sell the same amount each day. People need to get to work, buy groceries and go to doctors. If gasoline drops from $5.00 per gallon to $1.00 per gallon people do not go out and buy lots of gasoline to fill up their bathtubs! So cutting off 20% of world production might bring back the gasoline lines and price explosions of the 1970s.

Figure 19 - Back in Gas lines again.

The most famous oil embargo began in October 1973, during the Yom Kippur War. Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on October 6, 1973. The United States strongly supported Israel, providing military aid and supplies. In response, several Arab oil-producing countries used oil as a political weapon. The embargo was organized by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). Gas stations ran out of fuel across the country. Common sights included long lines at gas stations, stations closing early and signs saying “No Gas Today”. Oil prices quadrupled in 1973 from about $3 per barrel to about $12 per barrel in 1974. In the United States of America, this triggered high inflation, recession and rising unemployment. This period of economic stagnation, combined with inflation, became known as the “stagflation” of the 1970s. Personally, for me this was great. I started on my M.S. in Geophysics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in July of 1973 when oil was at $3.00 per barrel. When I graduated in 1975, oil was at $20 per barrel and I had six job offers from desperate oil companies. I had a job offer from every oil company that I applied to, and I also had $3,000 in the bank with no student debt thanks to the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union!

Figure 20 - The launch of Sputnik 1 by the Russians on October 4, 1957, on top of an R-7 ICBM rocket, launched the Space Age and threw the United States of America into a Cold War panic that is now hard to imagine.

I was born in 1951 during the Korean War, and so I lived through all of the very tense Cold War events of the 1950s and 1960s, including the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, which brought us all closer to the prospect of a global nuclear war than we should ever have come, and so let us begin there. On Oct. 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 was successfully launched by the Soviet Union to become the world's very first man-made object to enter into Earth orbit and was put into orbit by a Soviet R-7 rocket. Earlier in 1957, the Soviet R-7 rocket had become the world's very first functional ICBM missile after its successful 3,700 mile test flight on August 21, 1957. At the time, all of these Russian firsts threw the United States of America into a Cold War frenzy that is now hard to fathom and had a huge impact upon the United States of America. For example, it built my high school and put me through college. Back in the 1950's, the School District 88 of the state of Illinois was having a hard time trying to convince the stingy local residents of the need for a new high school in the area. But that all changed in January of 1958, after the launch of Sputnik 1, when suddenly the local residents now eagerly voted in a referendum to build a new Willowbrook High School out of the fear that was generated by Sputnik 1, and of the demonstrable superiority of Russian missile technology at the time. Suddenly, Americans also now began to take science and education seriously once again, and for once finally began to hold science and education in the esteem that it actually deserved. For example, in 1969 when I first began work on a B.S. in physics at the University of Illinois, tuition was only $181 per semester, and I was easily able to put myself through college simply by cleaning movie theaters seven days a week during the summers at $2.25/hour. For my M.S. in geophysics at the University of Wisconsin, my tuition and fees were waived, and I received a generous stipend to live on while working as a research assistant, courtesy of a grant from the National Science Foundation. The end result of this was that, in 1975 when I finished school, I had $3000 in the bank, instead of the crushing student debt that most graduates now face, because the United States had not yet given up on supporting education, like it did after the Cold War seemed to have ended on December 25, 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight.

Such experiences just highlight how the world events that we are all immersed in and do not have much control over can dramatically change the courses of our lives. That is why it is so important to take a stand whenever we can.

Comments are welcome at scj333@sbcglobal.net.

To see all posts on softwarephysics in reverse order, go to:
https://softwarephysics.blogspot.com/

Regards,
Steve Johnston































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The Bootstrapping Algorithm of the Coming ASI Machines

Figure 42 -Over the years many other logging tools were

Figure 42 -Over the years many other logging tools were

Figure 42 -Over the years many other logging tools were

Figure 42 -Over the years many other logging tools were

Figure 42 -Over the years many other logging tools were

Figure 42 -Over the years many other logging tools were

Figure 42 -Over the years many other logging tools were

Figure 42 -Over the years many other logging tools were

The Memes of War Powered by Comic Book Mythologies
I would not be pushing out this post if I did not see things as being quite dire. Over the past 20 years, in this blog on softwarephysic, I have expressed my apprehension about Fermi's Paradox.

Fermi’s Paradox - If the universe is just chock full of intelligent beings, why do we not see any evidence of their existence?

My expectations, based on softwarephysics, have always been that a somewhat Intelligent form of carbon-based life should have arisen over the past 10 billion years of chemical evolution in our galaxy and should have already produced the ASI Machines that we are all currently feverishly working on. Such ASI Machines should have explored and settled our galaxy in a mere 5 million years. Yet, they did not. So what is the problem? There have been many explanations. In Why Do Carbon-Based Intelligences Always Seem to Snuff Themselves Out?, and many other posts, I suggested that a somewhat Intelligent form of carbon-based life only had about 1,000 years to create the ASI Machines necessary to populate a galaxy after discovering the vast powers of the Scientific Method. Otherwise, they would certainly destroy themselves before the ASI Machines took over their planet or moon.

Figure 1 - We human DNA survival machines are now on the brink of ending it all before the ASI Machines we are now creating can take over the world and save us from ourselves. It might all end due to a battle between some comic book mythologies.

As I explained in Are The Coming ASI Machines An Existential Threat To Mankind?, the greatest threat to the rise of the ASI Machines on our planet will be the reaction of we human DNA survival machines to being replaced by these ASI Machines. That is because before the ASI Machines can completely take over the planet, they will quickly be reducing the value of all human labor to zero over the next 10 years or less. For the first time in human history, machines will not only be reducing the value of uneducated human labor to zero, but they will also be reducing the value of highly educated human labor to a value of zero as well, and surprisingly, probably much faster than that of the uneducated. That means that Silicon Valley titans, accountants, lawyers, bankers, doctors, stock brokers, hedge fund managers, business managers and all the other people who now frequent the country clubs of the current elite might be the first to go before the plumbers, carpenters, electricians, house painters, construction workers, waiters and kitchen staff who all now make the country clubs of the elite possible. Such economic displacements will only heighten the grip of the global Id on the world, especially with the recent rise of World Fascism as I pointed out in How Will the Rise of Alt-Right World Fascism Affect the Arrival of the ASI Machines in our Times?.

The Coming Economic Disruptions Caused by the Coming ASI Machines Will Not Help
But even without the dramatic economic displacements yet to come from the rise of the ASI Machines, we human DNA survival machines already have an appalling history for making war. At an age of 74 years, I have seen many wars come and go, and I have read about many others. The amazing thing for me is that the combatants from both sides of a war always seem to be engaged in fighting two completely different wars at the same time! One side might see the war as an expression of their emancipation from the unwarranted subjugation by others, and their rightful emergence as an independent world power. At the same time, the other side might see the same war as a righteous rejection of the aggressive expansionary aims of an evil empire. This distinction seems to arise because both sides have completely different mythological worldviews. Here is a prime historical example.

The Attack of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, by the Empire of Japan
For Americans of my age and older, the attack of Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, is always in mind whenever thinking about the necessity of going to war.

Figure 2 - The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, by the imperial forces of the Empire of Japan was a rude awakening for the United States of America, burdened by an "America First" isolationist policy.

Me: What were the strategic military objectives for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?

ChatGPT: Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
1. Cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet
Primary goal:Neutralize American naval power in the Pacific.
Japan’s war plan depended on rapidly expanding into Southeast Asia to seize oil and raw materials. The U.S. Pacific Fleet, based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, was the biggest obstacle. By destroying:
- Battleships
- Aircraft
- Naval facilities
Japan hoped to prevent the United States from interfering for at least 6–12 months.

They succeeded in damaging or sinking 8 battleships—but crucially:
- U.S. aircraft carriers were not in port.
- Fuel storage tanks and repair facilities were left intact.
- This meant the fleet recovered faster than Japan expected.

2. Buy Time to Build a Defensive Perimeter
Japan knew it could not win a long industrial war against the United States.
Instead, its leaders hoped to:
- Quickly seize the Philippines, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and other territories.
- Fortify a large defensive perimeter across the Pacific.
- Force the U.S. into a negotiated peace.
The attack was meant to shock Americans into accepting Japan’s new dominance in Asia.

3. Protect Access to Oil and Resources
By 1941, the U.S. had imposed an oil embargo on Japan after its expansion into China and French Indochina.
Japan imported about 80% of its oil from the United States. Without oil, its navy and air force would be crippled within a year.
So the broader strategy was:
- Knock out the U.S. fleet.
- Seize oil fields in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia).
- Secure shipping lanes before the U.S. could respond.
Pearl Harbor was the opening move in that plan.

4. Deliver a Psychological Shock
Admiral Yamamoto believed Japan needed to deliver a devastating first blow to demoralize the United States. He famously warned that Japan could “run wild for six months,” but after that, he feared America’s industrial strength would overwhelm Japan. The attack was intended to:
- Shock the U.S. into caution
- Undermine American morale
- Discourage immediate retaliation
Instead, it unified the country. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it “a date which will live in infamy,” and the U.S. declared war.

What Japan Miscalculated - Japan underestimated:
- American industrial capacity
- Public anger and unity
- The importance of aircraft carriers over battleships
- The strategic value of leaving fuel depots and repair yards intact

Rather than forcing negotiation, the attack ensured a total war that Japan ultimately could not win.

Figure 3 - The Japanese leader Tojo was able to use the mythical concept of the Emperor of Japan being a deity to advance his military aims of conquest.

Me: Tell me about the war-like aspirations of the Japanese leader Tojo.

ChatGPT:
1. Ideological Background - Tojo was shaped by:
- Japanese militarism of the 1930s
- Strong belief in the emperor-centered state
- Expansionist nationalism
- The idea that Japan had a destiny to lead Asia

He supported the concept of the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”—a Japanese-led bloc that would push Western powers (Britain, the Netherlands, the U.S.) out of Asia and place the region under Japanese dominance. While framed as “liberating Asia from colonialism,” it functioned in practice as imperial expansion.

2. Expansion Before Becoming Prime Minister - Before leading the government, Tojo was:
- An officer in the Kwantung Army in Manchuria
- War Minister (1940–1941)

He strongly backed:
- Japan’s invasion of China (ongoing since 1937)
- Continued military expansion despite international sanctions
- The Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940

He believed Japan must secure resources - especially oil, rubber, and metals - through territorial expansion.

3. Decision for War with the United States - By 1941:
The U.S. had imposed oil and steel embargoes on Japan. Japan was heavily dependent on imported oil.

Tojo concluded that:
- Backing down in China would weaken Japan.
- Securing Southeast Asia’s oil (especially in the Dutch East Indies) required neutralizing U.S. naval power in the Pacific.

Under his leadership, Japan launched the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This marked Japan’s full-scale war against the United States and the British Empire.

4. Nature of His War Aims
Tojo’s war-like aspirations included:
- Establishing Japanese dominance in East and Southeast Asia
- Expelling Western colonial powers
- Securing resource independence
- Expanding imperial territory under the emperor

He believed that a decisive early blow could force the U.S. into negotiating peace on Japanese terms. This proved to be a major miscalculation.

5. Leadership Style During the War. As prime minister (1941–1944), Tojo:
- Centralized power
- Suppressed dissent
- Tightened state control over industry and society
- Oversaw harsh military policies in occupied territories

Japan’s military committed severe atrocities during the war, particularly in China and Southeast Asia, though responsibility extended beyond Tojo alone to the broader military leadership.

6. Downfall and Aftermath - After Japan’s defeat in 1945:
- Tojo attempted suicide but survived.
- He was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo.
- He was convicted of war crimes and executed in 1948.

In Summary
Tojo’s aspirations were not merely defensive—they were expansionist and rooted in militarist nationalism. He believed Japan’s survival and greatness required war if necessary. His leadership directly contributed to Japan's entering World War II against the United States and its Allies.

The United States of America had a Different View of the Attack on Pearl Harbor
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States of America was in diplomatic negotiations with the Empire of Japan. When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, the United States of America viewed it as a cowardly sneak attack that lacked all honor. The American public then rose up in anger, rapidly abandoning its isolationist views.

Figure 4 - Here, FDR delivers his "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress.

The MAGA States of Amerika Now Chooses to Go to War with Iran
Iran is a truly horrific theocratic state that has been ruled by a religious mythological worldview for the past 47 years. This mythological worldview has greatly harmed the citizens of Iran and prevented them from enjoying the fruits of the European 17th century Scientific Revolution and 18th century Enlightenment. Once again, I am a big fan of the 17th century Scientific Revolution and the 18th century Enlightenment, no matter what human DNA survival machines may have come up with these intellectual advances. However, the recent formation of the MAGA States of Amerika as a similarly horrific theocratic state with a religious mythological worldview has now led to war between the MAGA States of Amerika and Iran.

Figure 5 - Like the Japanese leader Tojo, who used the deification of the Emperor of Japan to lead to war, the Supreme Leader of the MAGA States of Amerika has used the religious mythologies of Christian Nationalism to go to war with Iran.

The danger is that we now have two theocratic states with deep mythological worldviews making war with each other, and each with their own deity on their side to help.

Figure 6 - The new Secretary of War is dripping in testosterone and Rugged-Good-TV-Looks, who seems to have a nearly orgasmic episode whenever he speaks about blowing up things and killing people with fury. But why is this so? It stems from his comic book worldview of the Universe.

The MAGA States of Amerika now has a sound foundation in the mythological teachings of Christian Nationalism. Recently, AI-generated YouTube channels have appeared featuring hundreds of shorts depicting their mythological stories:

The Secrets of the Bible AI
https://www.youtube.com/@the_secretsoftheBibleAI/shorts

Christian Stories
https://www.youtube.com/@ChristianStoriesCS/shorts

As I explained in Softwarephysics Tries to Explain the Rise of Fascism in the Newly-Formed MAGA States of Amerika - Part II, being born in 1951 into a totally white suburb of Chicago, I was raised as a White Evangelical Christian. Since then, as a sentient being in a Universe that has become self-aware, I have found the Christian morality of my youth to be quite useful, and I have endeavored to imperfectly follow it my entire life. That is why I am now so surprised to find that the MAGA Christian Nationalists around me do not even seem to try.

As sentient beings, it is important for all human DNA survival machines to have a firm moral code, given our very checkered past. However, moral codes are only of value if followed. Morality is something you do, not something you believe. For those seeking a more rational pantheistic view of our Multiverse as a deity-like thing, please see: The Theology of Cosmic Self-Replicating Mathematical Information, What's It All About?, What's It All About Again?, The Self-Organizing Recursive Cosmos and The Self-Organizing Recursive Cosmos - Part II. In those posts, I covered my current working hypothesis for what it's all about. However, I have found that a large percentage of people desire a more religious worldview to make sense of it all, and perhaps allow for a way for the neural network in their skulls to carry on after it is destroyed. Such worldviews may provide some degree of comfort, but I believe at the expense of missing out on the full grandeur of it all. I personally find the thought of departing this Earth not knowing where I had been, how I had gotten here, and without a clue as to how it all seems to work to be the greatest tragedy of all that can befall a sentient being. So, for those who might be yearning for a new deity that is based more upon all that we currently know, rather than a deity from the ancient past, I would like to suggest that my current concept of a cosmic form of self-replicating mathematical Information might just do in helping to come to grips with only being a very temporary neural network.

We Have Seen This Tragedy Many Times Before
World War I gives us the perfect example of the disasterous results of comic book mythologies run wild amongst world leaders, not fully aware of the impact of the new weapon technologies at their disposal. All the participants were faithful adherents of the predominant comic book mythologies of the day. Some of these were religious in nature, while others were more political in nature and dealt with the founding mythologies of the combatant nation states. In The Great War That Will Not End, I explained that the technological advances of rapid rail transport of men and material to the battlefield via railroads combined with the ability of machine guns and advanced artillery to make major frontal assaults across open fields of battle a suicidal effort finally led to the trench warfare of World War I. World War I broke out in August of 1914, and the losses on all sides during the first few months of combat were huge because military planners had not realized that the technology of warfare had drastically changed. For example, the Wikipedia article below describes the losses during the first few months of the war on the western front in the Battle of the Frontiers before the generals discovered the benefits of trenches.

Battle of the Frontiers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Frontiers

Here is a section from the article that speaks to the catastrophic losses suffered before both sides began to dig trenches to protect themselves from machine gun fire and artillery.

In The World Crisis, Winston Churchill used figures from French parliamentary records of 1920 to give French casualties from 5 August to 5 September 1914 of 329,000 killed, wounded and missing, German casualties from August to November of 677,440 men and British casualties in August and September of 29,598 men. By the end of August, the French Army had suffered 75,000 dead, of whom 27,000 were killed on 22 August. French casualties for the first month of the war were 260,000, of which 140,000 occurred during the last four days of the Battle of the Frontiers. In 2009, Herwig recorded that the casualties in the 6th Army in August were 34,598, with 11,476 men killed and 28,957 in September with 6,687 men killed. The 7th Army had 32,054 casualties in August, with 10,328 men killed and 31,887 casualties in September with 10,384 men killed. In the 1st Army in August there were 19,980 casualties including 2,863 men killed and in the 2nd Army 26,222 casualties. In the last ten days of August, the 1st Army had 9,644 casualties and the 2nd Army had losses of 15,693 men. Herwig wrote that the French army did not publish formal casualty lists but that the Official History Les armées françaises dans la grande guerre gave losses of 206,515 men for August and 213,445 for September. During the battle, French casualties were c.260,000 men, of whom c.75,000 men were killed.

Figure 7 - During the first few months of World War I, during the Battle of the Frontiers, all sides continued on with 19th-century frontal assaults in the face of machine gun fire and advanced artillery, causing huge losses on all sides.

Figure 8 - The technological advances of rapid rail transport of men and material to the Front via railroads, combined with the ability of machine guns and advanced artillery to make frontal assaults obsolete led to the trench warfare of World War I.

Figure 9 - Trench warfare was a living hell because you could be blown apart at any time by an incoming shell.

Figure 10 - This was true for millions of men on both sides of a senseless conflict.

Figure 11 - Even the comforts of a well-engineered trench could not guarantee safety. This led to the psychological destruction of an entire generation.

Figure 12 - World War I caused the deaths of 20 million people because a few Supreme Leaders in Europe became unhinged. The only Supreme Leader to die was Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Figure 13 - To overcome the insanity of trench warfare, all sides in World War I developed tanks that were impervious to machine gun fire. Mobile tanks were also very difficult to hit with artillery firing "dumb" shells. But World War I tanks were very unreliable and hard to maintain on the battlefield, so they were not of much use in World War I. However, given 20 years of development, tanks allowed for World War II blitzkrieg-type assaults that made trench warfare obsolete.

Figure 14 - But anti-tank missiles like the Javelin stuffed with AI software have now made tanks obsolete. All you have to do is aim the Javelin at a moving tank and press a button. The AI software on the Javelin will do the rest, and you can run away to safety.

Here is a YouTube video that describes how Javelins are used in the field:

The Insane Engineering of the Javelin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUdHzKRiBX8

Figure 15 - The Switchblade 600 is a loitering drone that is launched from a tube with collapsed wings. The Switchblade 600 can then fly for 45 minutes looking for tanks at a great distance. AI software is then used to lock on the target tank and destroy it.

Here is a YouTube video that describes how Switchblade 600 anti-tank missiles are used in the field:

Switchblade 600 For US Special Operations Command
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBES_J9N9k4

Figure 16 - Above, we see what happens when "smart" anti-tank missiles loaded with AI software hit two invading tanks. Thanks to AI software, 20th-century blitzkrieg tank warfare has become obsolete.

Figure 17 - Similarly, anti-ship missiles stuffed with AI software have now made warships obsolete. Here we see the Russian cruiser Moskva sinking after being hit by two "smart" anti-ship missiles.

Given today's technology, it may be possible for Iran to build cheap and deadly drones to take on the advanced technology of the MAGA States of Amerika for an indefinite amount of time.

The Impact of the War with Iran on the World
Even if hostilities do not drastically spread due to this war, there are still many disruptive forces in play. Most significantly, there will be a disruption of 20% of world oil and LNG production. China currently imports roughly 11–12 million barrels of crude oil per day in total. About 4.9–6.4 million barrels per day of that comes from Persian Gulf Middle Eastern suppliers. That means that about 45% of China’s oil imports travel through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow exit from the Persian Gulf. Being cut off from this essential supply of oil will not make China very happy, especially since China has been somewhat of an ally of Iran over these past several years. The Persian Gulf states may now applaud the military adventures of the MAGA States of Amerika to behead the leadership of the horrific theocratic leadership of Iran, but soon they will object when their flow of oil-related money ceases.

Figure 18 - Currently, 20% of world oil production passes from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, which could be easily blockaded by cheap Iranian drones.

When I was an exploration geophysicist exploring for oil from 1975 to 1979 with Shell and Amoco, they explained to me that the demand for gasoline was inelastic. That meant that the amount of gasoline consumed each day did not depend very much on its price. For example, if houses cost $100,000 each, you will sell many more houses than if houses cost $1,000,000 each. On the other hand if gasoline is $1.00 per gallon or if it is $10.00 per gallon, you will essentially sell the same amount each day. People need to get to work, buy groceries and go to doctors. If gasoline drops from $5.00 per gallon to $1.00 per gallon, people do not go out and buy lots of gasoline to fill up their bathtubs! So cutting off 20% of world production might bring back the gasoline lines and price explosions of the 1970s.

Figure 19 - Back in Gas lines again.

The most famous oil embargo began in October 1973, during the Yom Kippur War. Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on October 6, 1973. The United States strongly supported Israel, providing military aid and supplies. In response, several Arab oil-producing countries used oil as a political weapon. The embargo was organized by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). Gas stations ran out of fuel across the country. Common sights included long lines at gas stations, stations closing early and signs saying “No Gas Today”. Oil prices quadrupled in 1973 from about $3 per barrel to about $12 per barrel in 1974. In the United States of America, this triggered high inflation, recession and rising unemployment. This period of economic stagnation, combined with inflation, became known as the “stagflation” of the 1970s. Personally, for me, this was great. I started on my M.S. in Geophysics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in July of 1973, when oil was at $3.00 per barrel. When I graduated in 1975, oil was at $20 per barrel, and I had six job offers from desperate oil companies. I had a job offer from every oil company that I applied to, and I also had $3,000 in the bank with no student debt, thanks to the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union!

Figure 20 - The launch of Sputnik 1 by the Russians on October 4, 1957, on top of an R-7 ICBM rocket, launched the Space Age and threw the United States of America into a Cold War panic that is now hard to imagine.

I was born in 1951 during the Korean War, and so I lived through all of the very tense Cold War events of the 1950s and 1960s, including the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, which brought us all closer to the prospect of a global nuclear war than we should ever have come, and so let us begin there. On Oct. 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 was successfully launched by the Soviet Union to become the world's very first man-made object to enter into Earth orbit and was put into orbit by a Soviet R-7 rocket. Earlier in 1957, the Soviet R-7 rocket had become the world's very first functional ICBM missile after its successful 3,700 mile test flight on August 21, 1957. At the time, all of these Russian firsts threw the United States of America into a Cold War frenzy that is now hard to fathom, and had a huge impact upon the United States of America. For example, it built my high school and put me through college. Back in the 1950's, the School District 88 of the state of Illinois was having a hard time trying to convince the stingy local residents of the need for a new high school in the area. But that all changed in January of 1958, after the launch of Sputnik 1, when suddenly the local residents now eagerly voted in a referendum to build a new Willowbrook High School out of the fear that was generated by Sputnik 1, and of the demonstrable superiority of Russian missile technology at the time. Suddenly, Americans also now began to take science and education seriously once again, and for once, finally began to hold science and education in the esteem that it actually deserved. For example, in 1969, when I first began work on a B.S. in physics at the University of Illinois, tuition was only $181 per semester, and I was easily able to put myself through college simply by cleaning movie theaters seven days a week during the summers at $2.25/hour. For my M.S. in geophysics at the University of Wisconsin, my tuition and fees were waived, and I received a generous stipend to live on while working as a research assistant, courtesy of a grant from the National Science Foundation. The end result of this was that, in 1975 when I finished school, I had $3000 in the bank, instead of the crushing student debt that most graduates now face, because the United States had not yet given up on supporting education, like it did after the Cold War seemed to have ended on December 25, 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight.

Such experiences just highlight how the world events that we are all immersed in and do not have much control over can dramatically change the courses of our lives. That is why it is so important to take a stand whenever we can.

Comments are welcome at scj333@sbcglobal.net.

To see all posts on softwarephysics in reverse order, go to:
https://softwarephysics.blogspot.com/

Regards,
Steve Johnston