I will often use the phrase “universal coherence” across this site, and outside of it, so I might as well introduce it.
“Universal coherence” is not a belief system, ideology, or finished theory. It is a working model I use to reason about systems—technical, social, biological, and cognitive—without reducing everything to productivity, optimization, or control.
The short version
- Systems tend toward coherence or incoherence over time.
- Coherence is not uniformity or efficiency—it is mutual compatibility.
- Breakdown usually happens at boundaries: feedback loops, mismatched scales, or forced participation.
- What we call “progress” often increases local coherence while degrading global coherence.
That lens has proven useful to me when thinking about technology, labor, power, and participation.
What I mean by coherence
By coherence, I mean a condition where parts of a system:
- can interact without constant friction,
- do not require coercion to remain stable,
- and maintain adaptability under stress.
This applies just as much to software and networks as it does to institutions, cultures, or physical bodies.
Coherence is not ‘moral’ by default. A system can be internally coherent and still harmful (false—or forced—coherence). The question is coherent for whom, and at what cost.
Why I use this lens
Many dominant frameworks reduce complex systems to:
- efficiency metrics,
- growth curves,
- incentives and outputs.
Those abstractions often erase lived experience, externalized harm, and long-term instability.
Coherence gives me a way to talk about:
- why systems feel “off” before they visibly fail,
- why participation under coercion degrades trust,
- and why optimization frequently destroys resilience.
Relationship to my other work
Universal coherence is explored more formally in a separate project, which lives outside Raelog:
- Project home: https://dev11.systems/ucf
- Repository: https://github.com/dev11systems/universal-coherence-framework
Raelog is not documentation for that project. Raelog is where I apply the lens informally while thinking in public.
You do not need to read the project material to follow posts here. When coherence shows up, this note is the context.
Status
This model is unfinished and evolving. I expect to revise it as I encounter better explanations or discover where it fails.