---
slug: oip-causal-contact-rule
title: Causal Contact Rule — Convergence vs Synthesis
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-causal-contact-rule
---

<!-- hierarchy:nav -->
> **Path:** [OIP](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) › [Convergence Catalogue](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-convergence-catalogue) › **Causal Contact Rule**
> **Attack type answered:** equivocation between independently derived and deliberately assembled

# Causal Contact Rule — Convergence vs Synthesis

## §SELF — oip-causal-contact-rule

**What this page is:** the tagging rule that separates true cross-domain **convergence** from **synthesis** (designer read the sources).
**What it explains:** why computing lineage (Simula, Smalltalk, ocaps) cannot carry the same independence load as Prigogine/Schrödinger/England without contact.
**Why read it:** one word was load-bearing for both; naming the difference makes the strong claim bulletproof.

### Scores (use on every convergence node and thinker mapping)

| Score | Meaning | Example class |
|---|---|---|
| **10** | Causal contact impossible or vanishingly unlikely (centuries/fields apart, no shared lab) | Cross-domain physics/biology |
| **7–9** | Weak or indirect contact possible | Parallel rediscovery in adjacent fields |
| **4–6** | Shared intellectual climate | Same era conferences, shared textbooks |
| **1–3** | Designer demonstrably read or inherited the source | Computing lineage in OIP build history |
| **0** | Direct assembly / citation chain | This corpus's own prior pages |

### Claims that survive

- **Convergence claim** (strong): only nodes with high causal-contact scores.
- **Synthesis claim** (honorable): low-score computing/philosophy lineage deliberately integrated. Still valuable; not independent discovery.

### How to attack this page

Show a node labeled 10 that has documented causal contact, or a node labeled 1 that was never in the designer's reading. Fix the tag, not the word "convergence."

## Links

- [Convergence catalogue](/a/oip-convergence-catalogue)
- [Thinker map](/a/thinker-map)
- [Count discipline](/a/oip-count-discipline)

