10.2 The Modifier of Rules

“Players of finite games play within boundaries; players of infinite games play with boundaries. When physical laws become shackles limiting our continued survival, civilization’s highest mission is not compliance, but ‘constitutional amendment.’ We live not to find treasure on that old map, but to draw a map leading to new dimensions.”

In the previous section, we established the strategy of “refusing to clear.” We don’t want to win; we want to keep playing.

But this raises a technical difficulty: If game rules are fixed, then the combinations of play are ultimately finite.

In a closed Newtonian universe, no matter how smart you are, you can only throw stones in parabolas within the $F=ma$ framework. This game, played long enough, will inevitably fall into a thermodynamic dead loop (repetition and boredom).

For infinite games to be possible, players must acquire an ability that transcends the “player” identity.

They must become The Modifier of Rules.

Metagaming: Not Just Playing, But Modifying

In game theory, this is called “Metagaming”.

• Ordinary game: Under a given $H$ (Hamiltonian), you search for the optimal state $|\psi ⟩$.

• Metagame: You search for the optimal $H$.

In the historical view of Vector Cosmology, every leap of civilization is essentially a “local modification of physical rules”.

• Invention of aircraft: Modified the “gravitational constraint rule.” Although not violating universal gravitation, by introducing aerodynamic terms, we locally created anti-gravity effects.

• Mastery of nuclear fusion: Modified the “boundary of energy conservation.” We are no longer limited by the inefficiency of chemical energy, directly unlocking the deep vault of strong interactions.

• Birth of quantum computing: Modified the “category of computational complexity.” Problems that originally required hundreds of millions of years to solve (P vs NP) collapse into answers in seconds.

We are not passively adapting to the environment; we are “reconstructing environmental parameters”.

Every technological revolution is a Patch we apply to the cosmic operating system. By introducing new variables (negentropy), we forcibly extend the game’s boundaries.

The Relativity of Law: Physical Laws are Habits

Does this sound arrogant?

Philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce once proposed: “Natural laws are not absolute iron rules, but habits the universe has developed.”

From the perspective of FS geometry, physical laws are “projection habits” of $c_{FS}$ in the current dimension.

• At $\tau =1000$, the universe was accustomed to low speeds, so light speed was slow.

• At $\tau =1800$, the universe is accustomed to complexity, so consciousness emerged.

Rules are products of evolution, therefore rules can also be evolved.

When we (as the self-referential part of the universe) feel that old rules (such as the lifespan limit of carbon-based flesh) hinder further growth of $v_{int}$, we have the right, and the obligation, to “re-legislate”.

• We modify life’s lifespan rules through gene editing.

• We modify consciousness transmission rules through brain-computer interfaces.

• We modify light speed propagation rules through spacetime engineering (future).

The essence of infinite games is constantly breaking ‘impossibility.’

Yesterday’s impossibility (flying) is today’s norm.

Today’s impossibility (immortality) is tomorrow’s starting point.

The Reverser of Entropy: Defining New Good

This ability to “modify rules” redefines “good” in ethics.

In finite games, good is following rules (law-abiding).

In infinite games, good is “breaking rules to keep the game going” (revolution).

If a civilization rigidly adheres to “ancestral laws” (old physical/social structures), it will perish when the environment changes. That is evil (because it causes the game to terminate).

Only civilizations that dare to challenge common sense and rewrite underlying logic can survive in the Red Queen’s run.

We are the universe’s “dynamic balancers.”

When the universe is too cold (heat death), we light fires (fusion).

When the universe is too chaotic (entropy increase), we code (AI).

We always stand on the side of “anti-nature”, because “nature’s” default trend is death, and what we want is immortality.

Conclusion: From Adaptation to Creation

So, stop saying “go with the flow.”

We must “go against the flow” to “transcend the flow.”

The “acceleration” we learned in the fourth book is sublimated into “rewriting” in the fifth book.

We are no longer satisfied with scoring high in this universe.

We want to turn this universe into an “Open Source” project.

Each of us is a Contributor to this project.

Every line of code you write, every new concept you create, is a PR (Pull Request) submitted to this infinite game’s code repository.

Since rules can be modified, since the game is infinite, what will this constantly upgrading, constantly rewriting civilization ultimately become? Will it become a shapeless, boundaryless monster?

No. It will manifest an extremely exquisite, mathematically self-similar structure.

This leads to the theme of the next volume: Iteration. We will see that this infinite modification is not chaotic accumulation, but the elegant unfolding of fractal geometry. Life, through generation after generation of replacement, achieves a “fractal immortality” that transcends the individual.