Symvironment

Symvironment is a neologism coined by Jong Bhak within his Covolution theory, referring to the integrated computational network where life and informational entities exist as actively interconnected, co-evolving components rather than passive recipients of natural forces.

Definition

Symvironment = Symbiosis + Entanglement + Environment

The symvironment is the collective of entangled internal and external informational entities that provide determining information to biological switches through computational interactions. It represents the total network with which any informational unit interacts in a mutually influential, computationally entangled manner, including all biological, physical, cognitive, and artificial agents that participate in feedback and evolution.

Core Principles

Computational Integration: Functions as a holistic information processing system where internal biological entities and external factors are computationally coupled rather than separate.

Mutual Co-Determination: Organisms and environment actively co-construct each other through mutual information processing and engineering, rather than organisms simply adapting to passive environments.

Structured Uncertainty: Operates under "meta-determination"—structured but not predetermined states that enable both predictable patterns and creative emergence.

Dissolved Boundaries: Eliminates the traditional organism-environment dichotomy by treating both as equal participants in ongoing computational processes that drive biological development and evolution.

Key Features

• Multi-directional Selection: Replaces external "natural selection" with self-selection, mutual selection, and proactive pre-selection within the network
• Non-biological Inclusion: Encompasses genes, cells, ecosystems, tools, machines, AI, culture, and neuronal activity as co-evolutionary participants
• Reciprocal Causality: Future predictions influence present states, which modify environmental conditions in feedback loops
• Computational Substrate: Acts as a distributed processing system where organisms are both processors and processes

Illustrative Example

Traditional Darwinism: A fish adapts to river temperature through random mutations selected for survival advantage.

Symvironment Framework: The fish operates as a biological computer processing temperature data and predicting thermal patterns. The river system functions as a distributed information network where water chemistry, microbial communities, predators, seasonal cycles, and human interventions perform continuous computational interactions. The fish co-determines the thermal environment through metabolic heat, behavioral modifications, and biochemical exchanges while all entities form an entangled network that collectively engineers the symvironment through cooperative information processing.

Summary

Symvironment is the integrated computational network formed by informational entanglement of organisms and surroundings, where evolution occurs through active information processing, predictive computation, and mutual engineering rather than passive environmental selection.