Start here · Step 8 of 8
Summary & toolkit
You've walked through the core chain of Informational Ontology in narrative form. This page gathers the main ideas in one place and gives you a small toolkit for exploring the rest of the site.
The chain in one breath
Δ → R → I → A → V → M → P
- Difference – If nothing ever differed from anything else, there would be no world to talk about.
- Relation – As soon as things differ, they stand in distances, orders, and connections.
- Information – Stable patterns in those relations rule in and rule out possibilities.
- Awareness – Some systems use information to guide themselves.
- Value – For such systems, some states are better or worse for continuing to exist.
- Meaning – Over time, information and value weave into stories, expectations, and symbols.
- Purpose – Those stories and values show up in the directions a system tends to move and the actions it actually takes.
How to use the rest of the site
From here, there are a few natural next steps:
- Visit the Ontological chain page for a more compact, formal overview of each stage.
- Dive into the deep sections for each stage if you want more technical detail.
- Explore the simulations to see some of these ideas in action.
You don't need to keep all the details in your head. The important thing is to remember how the pieces hang together: differences, relations, information, awareness, value, meaning, and purpose.
What to carry forward
IO is not just a list of definitions. It's a way of seeing the world as layered, structured, and meaningful without hand-waving.
Use the chain as a map: when something puzzles you, ask what's differing, how it's related, what information is present, who or what is aware of it, what has value, what it means, and what purpose is at work.