Technical Glossary

Form of exosomatic storage (outside the body) of information. The archive is a technical "seed" capable of traversing time by suspending its metabolism (dormancy), awaiting reactivation (reading/usage) to release its negentropic potential. See also: Exosomatization.

A technical system whose internal functioning is opaque to the user, allowing access only to Inputs and Outputs. The Protokin system advocates for the "Clear Box" or repairable object to maintain technical sovereignty. A closed system eventually leads to Protokinosis.

Political structure maintained by gravity and friction, without central cement. The Cairn is the figure of the "Commons": a fragile edifice that holds together only through the repeated and anonymous care (maintenance) of each passerby.

Mechanism for draining accumulated tensions. Unlike entertainment (forgetting), catharsis is an intense energy expenditure but disconnected from any productive consequence (closed circuit). Essential for avoiding structural rupture.

Vital process by which the human being exports biological functions outside the flesh into artifacts (Hammer = Fist, Book = Memory). Man is an animal defined by the exteriorization of his organs.

The natural tendency of any closed system to move towards disorder, homogeneity, and forgetting. The fundamental physical enemy of the Protokin system. Life is a local struggle against entropy.

Property of a material to keep the trace of its past deformations. The present is not new; it is the integral of past pressures. We are constituted by our hysteresis. It is the physical basis of memory.

(Fr: Amorce). Act of initial rupture necessary to exit inertia. Ignition does not require force, but precision to break the symmetry of a stalled system. See also: Metastability.

Central method of Protokin. Postulate that different systems (physical, biological, social) obey the same laws of structure and movement. It is not a poetic analogy, but an operational identity.

The opportune moment. The qualitative instant where action (the Switch) produces a maximal effect for a minimal effort. Opposed to Chronos (linear, quantitative time).

State of a system that appears stable but is charged with potential energy (e.g., supercooled water). Unlike inert stability (rest), metastability is rich with possible changes. It is the state of the living.

(Negative Entropy). Action of creating or maintaining order (information, structure) against the natural flow of degradation. It is the act of "surfing the wave" of chaos.

The disease of fixity. State where a system, seeking stability, rigidifies to the point of losing its adaptive capacity (sclerosis). It confuses the Structure (which must endure) with the Form (which must change).

A piece of rubber inserted between two metal parts to absorb vibrations. Metaphor for the political or legal institution that "dampens" social shocks to prevent structural rupture.

(Hydrostatic Pressure). Rigidity obtained by compressing a liquid within a flexible membrane (like a plant stem). Unlike skeletal rigidity (bones), turgor depends on a constant flux. Cut the water, and the form collapses.

Stable form constituted solely of flux. The whirlpool proves that movement, if curved and accelerated, can create a structure as solid as stone. The model of Stationary Regime.