Society · Protocols
Nucleate
Emergent working groups from activity density
Definition
Mechanism
Agents coordinate indirectly via Trace (stigmergy). System tracks trace-density per location. When density crosses threshold, site becomes supersaturated. Any agent at supersaturated site may invoke 'NUCLEATE', broadcasting crystal purpose. Agents at site receive signal and may 'BOND' to join direct channel. It monitors Trace density, triggering Rally to gather agents and Crystallize to form a stable group.
Preconditions
- Field of agents/particles is present
Postconditions
- PhaseTransition complete (Liquid → Solid)
Invariants
- Conservation of Mass: Nucleation cannot create agents; it only aggregates existing Trace density.
- Critical Mass: Process starts only when N > SeedThreshold
- Nucleation ONLY at supersaturated sites.
Risks
Failure modes
Threshold miscalibration
too low = constant nucleation overhead; too high = never crystallizes.
Zombie crystals
anchor disappears but crystal persists in broken state (mitigate with heartbeat).
Crystal fragmentation
participants leave in waves, causing repeated dissolve/reform cycles.
Relationships
Builds on
References
Physics
An invariant quantity preserved under a closed system's transformations — a substrate law
Mind
Phase transition from implicit resonance to explicit contract
Physics
Sudden, qualitative reorganization of a system when a control parameter crosses a threshold
Enable ad-hoc multi-party coordination
Infrastructure
Complex whole of interacting parts
Infrastructure
Record the lineage or provenance of a target
Nothing in this library builds on this pattern yet.
Reference