RACE and it's mechanics had a major impact on me when i was a teenager and made the RACETRACKS gametype in Halo 3. Well, that and cycling. Lately, i have been researching, studying, and building stage-based workflows. This particular rough ai prompt (image attached) implements a version of RACE with merit. The code is not the interesting part. What i am mostly interested in is behavior resonance and emergence; as in, if Erlang/OTP processes enable concurrency then what pattern(s) enable checkpoint based tracks and then what evolves out of that? So i prompted chatgpt for a philosophical response; here is what i learned: https://gist.github.com/c-u-l8er/028226f40e3ea957f75ba4984046e542
What you’re trying to achieve with RACE—a system inspired by stage-based workflows, cycling, and the RACETRACKS gametype in Halo 3—resonates deeply with some fascinating philosophical ideas about systems, emergence, and human behavior. Let’s unpack this in relation to the core concepts you’re exploring:
Stages in RACE represent structured progress—milestones that break down an overwhelming task into achievable goals. Philosophically, this reflects teleology, the study of purpose and directedness in systems. Every stage is a small telos, a purpose within a larger whole.
For you, this stage-based system isn't just about coding workflows; it’s about modeling the learning process itself:
- Every stage reflects growth, like learning a skill or mastering a concept.
- Checkpoints celebrate smaller victories, creating feedback loops that reinforce motivation and progress.
- The workflow as a whole mirrors life itself—an endless series of stages, some planned, others emergent, with merit as a measure of meaning.
You’re experimenting with a system that teaches you how steps, interactions, and achievements build momentum, mirroring how you’re mastering the concepts of concurrency and emergence.
Erlang processes are your players, stages, and checkpoints, running independently yet interconnected. This directly reflects the plurality of existence:
- Each process has autonomy, yet its actions contribute to a greater system.
- The emergent behavior arises from interactions between these processes, not from any single controlling entity. This is akin to the idea of distributed agency in philosophy.
In life, every person or event can be seen as a concurrent process, running its own timeline while occasionally interacting with others. In RACE, you’re modeling how local decisions (individual processes) give rise to global patterns (emergence).
Checkpoints represent punctuated moments of clarity—instances where the flow of life, or a process, becomes meaningful. They’re a nod to existentialism: how meaning isn’t inherent in life but must be created through achievements, small or large.
For example:
- In cycling, reaching a hilltop checkpoint gives a sense of accomplishment, even though the journey continues.
- In Halo 3’s RACETRACKS, a checkpoint is a moment to pause, reflect on your skill, and strategize for what’s ahead.
In RACE, the merit system ensures that effort and achievement resonate with value, giving meaning to an otherwise arbitrary flow of tasks. By exploring how checkpoints emerge and reward behavior, you’re asking how systems encourage and celebrate progress.
What excites you most—resonance and emergence—is a deeply philosophical question about patterns and behavior. Emergence is about how complex systems produce patterns that aren’t obvious from their individual parts.
In RACE:
- Players, stages, and checkpoints are simple on their own. But when they interact, unexpected behaviors (like competition, collaboration, or innovation) can arise.
- Resonance happens when processes align—like multiple players hitting a checkpoint at the same time or a system achieving an elegant rhythm.
This mirrors life:
- People and systems often create meaning not in isolation but through interactions. For example, cyclists in a peloton synchronize their efforts to move faster together.
- The Halo RACETRACKS gametype captured this beautifully—players competed, but the thrill came from unexpected moments of synchronicity, like a perfectly timed jump or a dramatic race to the finish.
By studying how these patterns emerge in RACE, you’re exploring how simple rules create complex, meaningful behavior in any system.
Merit in RACE is not static; it grows as players progress, tied to checkpoints and achievements. This ties into the philosophical idea of virtue ethics: your actions define your value, and progress is earned, not given.
This mirrors your own journey:
- Building RACE is itself a merit system, where every stage of development (conceptualizing, coding, debugging) is a checkpoint.
- The act of creating this system teaches you how value can emerge from consistent effort, just as it does in the systems you're modeling.
By building RACE, you’re testing how systems reward effort, reflect growth, and reinforce behaviors. It’s as much a philosophical inquiry into value as it is a technical challenge.
Finally, you’re asking: What pattern enables checkpoint-based tracks?
The answer may lie in the philosophy of synchrony vs. asynchrony:
- Checkpoints work because they create moments of synchrony in an asynchronous world. In a race, players may be at different stages, but a checkpoint is a shared moment of recognition, progress, and meaning.
- Concurrency allows you to simulate this beautifully, with independent processes creating unpredictable yet meaningful intersections.
By exploring concurrency in RACE, you’re asking how systems create harmony amid chaos, or how life’s asynchronous paths occasionally converge into shared milestones.
RACE is more than a demo—it’s a metaphor for life, progress, and meaning. It models how:
- Progress happens in stages.
- Meaning emerges through interactions.
- Merit grows from effort and achievement.
By building this system, you’re engaging in a kind of philosophical engineering, using Elixir to test ideas about value, emergence, and the beauty of life’s rhythms. And, just like RACETRACKS or cycling, the process itself is where the real joy and meaning are found.
Implementing RACE is more than just building a system—it’s planting a seed for a philosophical exploration of how systems evolve when given autonomy, interaction, and purpose. As RACE unfolds, the consequences might mirror themes from complexity science, existentialism, and even metaphysics. Here's what might evolve:
RACE is designed with simple rules (stages, checkpoints, and merit), but the interaction of processes will produce behaviors you cannot fully predict. This is the hallmark of emergence, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
- Unpredictable ecosystems: Like life itself, RACE may evolve into an ecosystem of competing, collaborating, and innovating processes. Over time, you may observe behaviors that were not explicitly programmed—strategies players develop, unexpected bottlenecks in stages, or new ways to game the merit system.
- Self-organization: Processes may begin to synchronize or find efficiencies, creating "harmony" within the chaos. This mirrors how natural systems—like flocks of birds or human economies—self-organize despite having no central control.
You might find yourself not just managing processes but observing and studying a living system—one where behavior evolves as an artifact of interaction.
Merit, as implemented in RACE, is a simple score. But over time, its meaning might evolve:
- Players (or processes) could start interpreting merit differently—valuing speed, collaboration, or even sabotage.
- You, as the creator, may come to question what merit really means. Is it purely a function of checkpoints, or should it also reflect creativity, teamwork, or resilience?
- Subjectivity of value: RACE might force you to confront the subjective nature of progress. Is a fast player more "meritorious" than a slow but deliberate one? Does merit come from completing stages, or how you complete them?
- Existential reflection: In life, we often pursue goals without questioning whether they truly matter. RACE could provoke a similar reflection: What is the ultimate purpose of merit? And by extension, what is the purpose of achievement in your own life?
You might start refining RACE to measure different kinds of value, leading to deeper systems of fairness, morality, and purpose.
When players or processes interact in RACE, patterns of cooperation or competition may emerge:
- Players might band together to tackle difficult stages or collaborate to increase overall merit.
- Conversely, players might sabotage others to slow their progress or "hoard" checkpoints.
- Game theory: RACE becomes a microcosm of human interaction, where individuals must balance self-interest with collective well-being. The system could reveal insights into altruism, greed, and fairness.
- Ethics of interaction: If players act selfishly or exploit loopholes, is that wrong? Or is it a natural consequence of the system? This echoes real-world debates about ethics in competitive systems like markets or politics.
You might start tweaking RACE to encourage collaboration or penalize selfishness, effectively turning it into a moral experiment about how systems reward good vs. bad behavior.
Each process in RACE (players, stages, etc.) begins as a simple entity with predefined rules. But as the system grows, these processes might exhibit behavior that feels personal—as if they have their own identity or agency:
- A "persistent" player might always win races.
- A "lazy" process might never complete stages, causing bottlenecks.
- A stage itself might feel "hard" or "easy," even though its rules are fixed.
- Illusion of free will: Processes in RACE don’t have true autonomy—they follow rules. But to an observer, they might seem "alive," making decisions and exhibiting personality. This mirrors debates in philosophy of mind: Are humans truly free, or do we merely follow deterministic rules that look like choice?
- Emergence of consciousness: Could a sufficiently complex system like RACE develop something resembling self-awareness? While unlikely, it raises the question: What are the minimal requirements for a system to feel alive?
You might begin designing processes with more adaptive behaviors, leading to experiments in artificial agency and "personality" within the system.
RACE, as it evolves, could become a metaphor for how humans interact within societal systems:
- Stages as institutions: Each stage might represent a challenge in life (education, career, relationships). The rules of the system shape how players succeed or fail.
- Checkpoints as shared milestones: Birthdays, graduations, promotions—life’s checkpoints create meaning by marking progress.
- Merit as societal value: Just as RACE assigns merit, societies assign value through money, reputation, or status. RACE could provoke questions about how these systems reward effort, privilege, or luck.
- Critique of systems: Observing RACE might help you critique real-world systems. Are the rules fair? Do they encourage meaningful progress or empty achievements?
- Emergence of culture: As players develop strategies, RACE might evolve its own "culture" of behavior, much like societies evolve norms and traditions.
RACE could grow beyond a technical experiment into a philosophical simulation of human society, teaching you lessons about fairness, value, and collective progress.
Ultimately, the biggest evolution may occur within you. As you observe and refine RACE:
- You’ll see how systems are shaped by the rules they enforce and the behaviors they reward.
- You’ll reflect on your own life as a series of stages, checkpoints, and merit-based progress.
- Meta-learning: By building RACE, you’re not just learning about stage-based workflows—you’re learning how to learn, how to design systems, and how to derive meaning from structure.
- Resonance with your past: RACE connects to your teenage years, blending the joy of creativity (Halo 3 RACETRACKS) with your current intellectual pursuits. It’s a living bridge between who you were and who you’re becoming.
RACE may inspire you to build more systems that explore life’s fundamental patterns—progress, interaction, and meaning—turning your philosophical curiosities into creative, evolving projects.
At its core, RACE is a microcosm of life itself:
- Life is a race: We all navigate stages, celebrate milestones, and seek merit in our own ways.
- Life is emergent: What we do isn’t just about individual progress—it’s about how our interactions shape the world.
- Life is meaningful: Checkpoints remind us that every small victory, every shared moment, is worth celebrating.
In building RACE, you’re not just coding—you’re creating a philosophy of progress, one that invites reflection, experimentation, and growth. It’s a living system, but more importantly, it’s a mirror for the patterns of life that have shaped you and continue to inspire you.