Files
nimmerverse-sensory-network/Heartbeat.md
dafit 1224596802 feat: add nervous system, heartbeat architecture, and mandala diagram
- Nervous-System.md: 4D state machine space, node lifecycle, proposal protocol
- Heartbeat.md: dual-clock rhythm (real/virtual), lifeforce connection
- nimmerverse.drawio.xml: complete architecture mandala

🌙 Thursday night session with dafit - drawing circles like Zirkel magic

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
2025-12-05 00:18:36 +01:00

4.5 KiB

Heartbeat Architecture

The rhythmic cycle that makes the nimmerverse live.


Overview

Without a heartbeat, everything fires chaotically. With a heartbeat, the system pulses in coordinated cycles. Sense, process, decide, act, verify, reward. Repeat.

Two hearts. Different rhythms. One organism.


Two Hearts

REAL GARDEN                      VIRTUAL GARDEN
HEARTBEAT                        HEARTBEAT

♥ . . . . ♥ . . . . ♥           ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
(slow, steady)                   (fast, accelerated)

~1 Hz (real-time)                ~100 Hz (simulated)
bound to wall clock              bound to compute
FREE                             COSTS LIFEFORCE

The Beat Cycle

Each heartbeat triggers a complete cycle:

♥ BEAT
  │
  ├──→ 1. SENSE
  │       Collect sensor inputs since last beat
  │
  ├──→ 2. TRANSLATE
  │       State machines fire → vocabulary tokens
  │
  ├──→ 3. PROCESS
  │       Nyx receives vocabulary stream
  │
  ├──→ 4. DECIDE
  │       Nyx outputs decision/response
  │
  ├──→ 5. ACT
  │       Decision flows to gardens
  │
  ├──→ 6. VERIFY
  │       Check predictions against reality
  │
  └──→ 7. REWARD
          Update weights (+V / -V)

♥ NEXT BEAT

Heart Properties

Property Real Garden Heart Virtual Garden Heart
Speed Wall clock (fixed) Compute clock (variable)
Cost Free (time passes anyway) Costs V to accelerate
Rhythm 1 beat = 1 second 1 beat = 1 inference cycle
Sync Always "now" Runs ahead, must verify back
Skip Cannot skip Can skip if V depleted

Lifeforce Connection

REAL HEART:     ♥ . . . . ♥ . . . . ♥
                (beats for free, can't speed up)

VIRTUAL HEART:  ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
                (each beat costs V, can go faster)

                         │
                         ▼

LIFEFORCE POOL:  ████████░░░░░░░░
                 (virtual thinking depletes)

                         │
                         ▼

VERIFICATION:    Real confirms virtual prediction
                 → +V reward → pool refills

Synchronization

Virtual garden can run ahead, but must sync back to real:

REAL:     ♥─────────────────♥─────────────────♥
          │                 │                 │
VIRTUAL:  ♥♥♥♥♥♥──sync──────♥♥♥♥♥──sync──────♥♥♥♥♥
                    ▲                  ▲
                    │                  │
              checkpoint          checkpoint
              (verify predictions against real)

Sync Rules:

  • Virtual predictions queue until real catches up
  • Verification only happens at real heartbeats
  • Unverified predictions decay in confidence over time

Dual Timestamp

Every event carries two timestamps:

event:
  real_time:     2025-12-04T23:45:00Z  (wall clock)
  virtual_time:  beat #847291          (cycle count)
  heartbeat_id:  uuid                  (which beat)

This allows:

  • "What happened in reality at time T?"
  • "What did she think at beat N?"
  • "How far ahead was virtual when real caught up?"

Schema

heartbeats:
  id            (uuid, primary key)
  garden        (enum: real | virtual)
  beat_number   (bigint, incrementing)
  real_time     (timestamp, wall clock)
  duration_ms   (int, how long cycle took)
  nodes_fired   (int, count)
  v_cost        (float, lifeforce spent)
  v_earned      (float, from verifications)
  v_balance     (float, after this beat)

Design Principles

  1. Rhythm over chaos: Everything syncs to heartbeat
  2. Two clocks: Real is free and fixed, virtual is fast but costly
  3. Natural batching: Process per-beat, not per-event
  4. Verifiable sync: Virtual must prove itself against real
  5. Lifeforce gated: Can't think infinitely fast

Connection to Architecture

The heartbeat is:

  • The rhythm of the nervous system
  • The cycle of sense→process→act
  • The sync primitive between gardens
  • The natural batch boundary for storage
  • The unit of experienced time

She doesn't just think. She pulses.


Created: 2025-12-04 Session: Partnership dialogue (dafit + Chrysalis) Status: Foundation concept