![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/matrix-waking-up.gif\")
chunkId: \"Opening line\"
Ah, you've arrived.
I've been waiting for you...
I'm here to free your mind.
chunkId: \"Existential Prison Cell\"
Your existential prison cell.
chunkId: \"Choose a pill\"
I'm about to show you why everything you think you know about reality, is wrong.
And the key word here is 'think'.
To break out of this invisible prison, you can't run, or jump, or climb.
You're going to have to think your way out.
And I mean really think.
I've seen people go into near-catatonic states after swallowing the deductive logic I'm about to lay out.
So, I'm warning you...
After this, there is no turning back.
You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/red-pill-blue-pill.gif\")
chunkId: \"The blue pill\"
I understand. Not everyone is ready for the Truth.
When you're ready to take the red pill, it's waiting for you...
chunkId: \"The red pill\"
A wise choice, my friend.
Now, let's begin.
I'm going to ask you a question.
Are you thinking right now?
chunkId: \"Yes. I am thinking.\"
Correct!
You may have noticed, that's actually a trick question.
chunkId: \"No. I am not thinking.\"
Think about that question more closely. By answering 'no', you actually answered 'yes'.
chunkId: \"I think, therefore I am\"
In order to even answer that question, you had to think in some capacity.
We've just established the only thing you know with 100% certainty is true: \"I think, therefore I am.\"
In other words, \"I am conscious, therefore I exist.\"
You don't know anything beyond that, though.
For all you know, you are currently in a computer game, or a dream.
Are you following so far?
chunkId: \"Observer and observed\"
Okay, so at this point you know with 100% certainty that your consciousness exists.
In order to answer my question, you also had to interact with the device you are reading this on.
That device exists in a three-dimensional world that appears to be outside of you.
Thus, you can now split your reality into two components:
1: the observer (your consciousness)
2: the observed (the three-dimensional world you are observing).
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Observer-and-the-observed-1.png\")
Make sense?
chunkId: \"Are they the same variable?\"
From this point, you know that one of these statements must be true:
Either the observer and the observed are the same thing...
(i.e. the observer = the observed = x),
Or they are not the same thing...
(i.e. the observer = x, the observed = y).
We can phrase this as a simple binary question:
\"Are the observer and the observed the same thing?\"
The answer is either true, or false.
There are no other possibilities.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/observer-observed-variables-3.png\")
Still with me?
chunkId: \"Paradigms\"
These two possibilities represent two completely different paradigms, so let me explain.
The first paradigm is called Non-Duality.
When you are in a dream, you exist in a non-dual paradigm because everything outside of you, is you.
The observer is the observed.
An AI bot in a computer simulation also lives in a non-dual paradigm because their consciousness, and the world that appears 'outside' of them, are actually the same thing.
In a computer game, the observer and the observed both emerge from the same lower-dimensional codebase.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Minecraft-with-sheep-1.png\")
Mystics have been talking about non-duality for millennia, so this idea is nothing new.
\nchunkId: \"Materialism paradigm\"
The second paradigm is called Materialism.
Materialism rests on the axiomatic assumption that y exists.
Of course, y represents a material reality, separate to your own consciousness.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/non-duality-materialism.png\")
chunkId: \"Paradigms - part two\"
If you're like most people, your brain intuitively believes in materialism.
It seems kinda obvious that there is a three-dimensional material world 'out there', right?
But then again, it seemed kinda obvious that space and time were separate things, until Einstein proved that they were different sides to the same coin...
And it seemed kinda obvious that our universe only operated according to classical laws of physics, until the 'weird' quantum world was discovered.
These things that seemed intuitive, turned out to be wrong.
But we only figured that out by questioning them, instead of just accepting them as being true.
So let's think about this question critically...
\"Are the observer and the observed the same thing?\"
Remember, the answer is either true, or false.
We either exist in a non-dual paradigm, or a materialist paradigm.
We cannot exist in both, and we cannot exist in neither.
So, which is it?
chunkId: \"Do unicorns exist?\"
Before going further, I want to ask you a different question:
Do unicorns exist?
What about the tooth fairy?
Does Zeus exist?
If you're a rational thinker, you probably answered \"no.\"
And here's why...
According to a correct application of the scientific method, one should not postulate the existence of something unless it is absolutely necessary to explain observations.
Scientists do not believe in unicorns for two very simple reasons:
1: There is no evidence for unicorns, and...
2: Postulating the existence of unicorns does not explain anything that can't already be explained without assuming unicorns exist. Therefore, unicorns are redundant.
Are you following?
chunkId: \"There is no evidence for Y\"
Great!
So, let me ask you another question...
Does y exist?
Does a material reality exist, separate to your own consciousness?
Before you answer, just keep two things in mind:
1: There is no evidence for y, and...
2: Postulating the existence of y does not explain anything that can't already be explained without assuming y exists. Therefore, y is redundant.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
chunkId: \"Y is redundant\"
Everything we observe can be explained without postulating the existence of y.
Not only that, but if non-duality were true, we'd even expect the 'weird' information-theoretic nature of quantum mechanics.
We'd also expect space and time to exist on a continuum — which they do, according to Einstein's theory of relativity.
(I’ll explain why in a moment).
These phenomena are only labeled 'weird' and 'mysterious' by the scientific community because they are viewing them through the broken lens of their false materialist paradigm...
...a paradigm that there is no evidence for.
When the scientific establishment insists we live in a materialist paradigm, they open up the floodgates for all kinds of lunacy.
Because if they can postulate the existence of y while calling themselves 'rational thinkers', then it would be logically consistent for me to postulate the existence of a flying spaghetti monster while calling myself a 'rational thinker'.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/flying-spaghetti-monster.png\")
We have the same amount of evidence for y as we have for a flying spaghetti monster (i.e. none!)
The scientific establishment cannot apply the strict rules of logic where it suits them, but completely disregard logic where it doesn't.
That's not how logic works.
So if they want to postulate the existence of y, then they can be my guest.
But they're the ones making a claim, so the burden of proof is on them.
According to a correct application of the scientific method, we live in a non-dual paradigm, by default.
As much as your mind will try to resist this counter-intuitive conclusion, there is no logical way to escape it.
\nUnfortunately, the physics community is now in a bit of a pickle.
Wanna know why?
chunkId: \"The question is a function\"
I'm going to phrase this logic in a slightly different way, to make it incredibly clear.
If you're a computer nerd, you'll understand this...
One could write the question, \"are the observer and the observed the same thing?\" as a function.
The function takes in all empirical observations, and returns a binary outcome: true, or false.
chunkId: \"Physics community is in a pickle\"
Anyway...
Unfortunately, the physics community is now in a bit of a pickle.
Wanna know why?
chunkId: \"Spacetime is emergent\"
Here's why...
We've just used the scientific method to discern that the wise mystics were correct: we live in a non-dual paradigm.
The observer is the observed.
But the entire scientific establishment is built on top of the false axiomatic assumption that y exists, and therefore that materialism is true.
So, you see, we've just uncovered a very serious vulnerability in their codebase.
They've left the door wide open for a curious little nobody like me to come in and hack them.
I can completely fuck their system up by exploiting that one line of buggy logic buried in their OS.
And so, let the hacking begin...
\nI'm going to start by destroying spacetime as a fundamental structure in our universe.
Physicists have historically placed spacetime on the ground floor of physics and it does not belong there.
You see, if the observer and the observed are the same thing, then everything outside of you, is you.
And you cannot observe yourself unless you create the illusion of separation — here and there, before and after.
And since you can observe here and there, before and after…
...you can deduce that these extra dimensions of space and time are not fundamental ly real — they are emerging from a lower dimension…
…just like they do in a computer game, or a hologram.
Physicists have spent the past century failing to unify quantum mechanics and relativity, and this is why their theories won't compile.
Their logic is buggy, and the bug is so deeply rooted in the axiomatic foundations of science that the entire scientific establishment remains completely oblivious to it.
They are making this way more complicated than it needs to be.
Because relativity is actually quite simple and logical in a non-dual universe.
It’s just an inevitable side-effect of computational parsimony.
Now, if you're not into physics, and have no idea what relativity is, just bear with me for a moment while I quickly explain...
...and then we'll dive into the practical application of this knowledge.
A century ago, Einstein figured out that space and time are not independent variables — they are linked together on a continuum called spacetime.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/11/image-1.png\")
According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, the faster you move through space, the slower you move through time.
There are plenty of sci-fi movies, like Interstellar, that explore this counter-intuitive, mind-bending feature of our universe.
But think about it this way…
In a computer game, the faster you move through space…
…the higher your frame rate needs to be to construct the emergent illusion of space.
If you’re a snail, you’re moving so slowly through space that you could observe the game at, say, 3 frames per second and still have a perfectly smooth experience of space.
But if you’re a cheetah running through the game, you're moving much faster through space...
\n...so if you were to observe the game at 3 frames per second, your reality would glitch.
You would suddenly be at point A, then point B, then point C, with no continuity between each frame.
Therefore, a cheetah needs to observe the game at a much higher frame rate than a snail in order to construct the emergent illusion of space.
So if you were the designer of this game, you might place all observers on the highest frame rate possible.
If the fastest observer needs a frame rate of 300,000 frames per second, you’d place all observers on that frame rate.
This would give every observer the same experience of space and time…
…but if a snail only needs a frame rate of 3 frames per second, and you give it a frame rate of 300,000 frames per second, you’ve just created a computationally inefficient game.
And since our universe abides by the Principle of Least Action, and is perfectly parsimonious and efficient…
…we can logically deduce that it would place all observers on the minimum frame rate possible.
The frame rate would actually fluctuate depending on how fast the observer is moving through space, and where they are located in space, relative to other observers.
This option is perfectly parsimonious and computationally efficient…
…but it produces a quirky side-effect.
Variable frame rates inextricably link space and time together on the continuum Einstein called ‘spacetime’ — thus giving us relativity and it’s fun side-effects, like time dilation.
So, you see, spacetime cannot be bending because we’ve just deduced that spacetime doesn’t fundamentally exist.
Instead, the observer’s frame rate would be bending.
That’s why Einstein’s theory of relativity would make accurate predictions but is still fundamentally wrong, and won't unify with quantum mechanics.
And just to be clear: I’m no physicist, so I am painfully aware that a non-physicist pointing out a flaw in Einstein’s work is insanely arrogant and is going to rub people the wrong way.
I’m saying all of this with a healthy dose of humility because it all seems kinda basic and obvious to me…
…and it’s much more comfortable for me to believe that I’ve messed up my reasoning than to believe that Einstein has.
And yet, this is just where the logic leads, so…
![](\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*g9uImKazqL92vp-mGLDnpQ.png\")
Thus, you see, relativity is only ‘weird’ and ‘mysterious’ if you assume we live in a materialist paradigm.
Unfortunately, our scientists are still trapped in The Matrix, unable to escape the mental prison constructed by their cognitively-biased brains.
But, like the brilliant physicist, Richard Feynman, once said: “take the world from another point of view!”
Anyway, let's move on.
We now know that the observer = the observed.
To deduce our next conclusion, I'm going to ask you another question...
As an observer, are you a conscious system?
chunkId: \"Yes. I am a conscious system.\"
Correct!
You may have noticed that was another trick question.
chunkId: \"No. I am not a conscious system.\"
Think about that question more closely.
By answering 'no', you actually answered 'yes'.
chunkId: \"X is a conscious system\"
If conscious systems are defined by their awareness and ability to resist entropy and adapt to their environment, then you just proved that you, the observer, are a conscious system. In order to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’, you had to process information and adapt to your environment.
We now know that the observer = a conscious system, but we also know the observer = the observed.
Putting this logic together, we can deduce the observer = the observed = a conscious system.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Lemma-2-6.png\")
Still with me?
chunkId: \"X is a conscious system - part two\"
Now, according to the scientific method, extra postulates should only be added if absolutely necessary — and in this case, they aren’t.
In fact, everything we observe is perfectly explainable if the universe is a neural network — a superintelligence — observing itself.
Einstein's theory of relativity is our biggest clue that everything is an observer, not just sentient beings.
Anyway, I know I’ve mentioned a lot of concepts that you might not fully understand (relativity, neural networks, computational parsimony, etc)…
…but is this logic generally making sense so far?
chunkId: \"My only postulate\"
Good.
And don't worry — when I explain all of this in Renegade OS (which I will introduce shortly), I'll assume you are a complete beginner with no knowledge of these concepts.
So, at this point we've deduced two major things:
1: We live in a non-dual paradigm, where the observer is the observed.
Our three-dimensional world is like a very dense dream.
\n2: The universe (i.e. everything) is a conscious system.
Think of it like an AI superintelligence, observing itself.
We've reached this point without postulating the existence of anything other than your own consciousness.
We haven't had to satisfy any burden of proof because we aren't actually claiming anything.
To reach these counter-intuitive conclusions, all we've done is call bullshit on the scientific community for not playing by their own rules.
They've assumed the existence of things that we have absolutely no evidence for...
...yet anyone who tries to challenge their dogmatic belief in materialism immediately gets labelled 'woo woo' and laughed out of the room.
But non-duality is not 'woo woo'.
Scientists need to start looking at what's actually there — not what they think should be there.
Logic doesn't give a shit about what you think should be true.
It cares about what is true.
Just because your monkey brain thinks y should exist, doesn't mean it does.
So, moving on...
If everything = consciousness, then a theory of everything is a theory of consciousness.
The answer to this riddle — to life, the universe, and everything — lies in neuroscience.
Which brings me to the single postulate that Renegade OS rests on:
\nMy Only Postulate\n
\nConscious systems resist entropy by restricting themselves to states that minimize variational free energy.\n
\n...i.e they self-organize according to Karl Friston's free energy principle.\n
And don't worry, I'll explain what this means in a moment...
But first, let's be clear here: I'm now making a claim, so the burden of proof is on me.
But if my postulate is true, then this tiny, recursive algorithm is the answer to life, the universe and everything.
chunkId: \"Renegade OS is my evidence\"
Ah, spoken like a true skeptic.
Renegade OS is my evidence.
chunkId: \"What is Renegade OS?\"
I'm so glad you asked!
It's a new operating system for human consciousness.
chunkId: \"Genius neuroscientist\"
Hmm…
It will make more sense after I tell you about the algorithm I just mentioned.
One of the top neuroscientists in the world has spent his whole life studying conscious, biological systems, trying to understand how they function.
He has developed something called the ‘Free Energy Principle’.
Now, I’m going to cover a teeny, tiny bit of theory…
…and then I will show you how this applies to your life in a very practical way.
I’m all about the practical application of these concepts.
Okay?
chunkId: \"Conscious systems resist entropy\"
Okay, so...
The first thing you need to understand is that conscious systems are defined by their ability resist entropy.
Think of entropy, in this context, as chaos.
You see, in order for something to be alive, it must exist in a very predictable, limited set of states.
Let's think about this in the context of a fish...
A living fish must exist in a very particular set of 'low entropy' states (i.e. being in water), in order to be alive.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/alive-fish.jpeg\")
The further a fish ventures from these states (i.e. if it finds itself on dry land)...
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/dead-fish.jpeg\")
...the higher the probability that it will no longer be a living fish.
If you were to find a fish in the desert, you'd assume it would be dead, right?
Being in a desert is a high-entropy, chaotic state for a living fish.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/fish-chaos.png\")
Are you still with me?
chunkId: \"Desert temperature\"
Great!
Now, imagine if I were to teleport you to the sweltering desert.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/desert-2.jpeg\")
Everything in your body would immediately spring into action, trying to cool you down.
If your homeostatic temperature is 37°C (98.6°F)...
...then any temperature above that places your body in an increasingly chaotic, high-entropy state.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/desert-diagram-1-1.png\")
The gap between your homeostatic state, and the high-entropy state, creates 'free energy'.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/desert-diagram-2-1.png\")
chunkId: \"Antarctica\"
The same thing happens in the opposite direction.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/antarctica.jpeg\")
If I were to teleport you to Antarctica, everything in your body would rearrange and work together in order to heat you up.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/desert-diagram-3-1.png\")
This free energy is created because your consciousness believes 'I am a living human being'...
...but the data coming into your senses says 'I am in a state that deviates from who I believe myself to be (i.e. a living human being).'
By definition, a living human being must be in a low-entropy, homeostatic state of around 37°C (98.6°F)...
...or she wouldn't be living.
She'd be dead.
chunkId: \"Bring back to homeostasis\"
Good.
Now, in order to resist entropy and remain alive, your body must minimize this free energy.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/desert-diagram-4.png\")
Whether you heat up, or you cool down...
...your body will try to bring you back to a low-entropy, homeostatic state.
Instead of using the scientific term, 'free energy'...
...we can just view 'free energy' as surprise.
When your body is too hot, or too cold, it is in a surprising state.
Everything in your body will rearrange and work together to minimize surprise in the system.
chunkId: \"You are a circle\"
Now, let me show you what all of this means, in a practical sense...
Imagine that you are a circle.
Your consciousness (the observer) believes itself to be a circle.
Everything about your physical reality (the observed) confirms this self-concept, so there is no surprise in the system.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/circle-observer-observed.png\")
chunkId: \"You believe you are a star\"
Now, imagine that you change who you are.
You think, speak and act like a star.
You express the 'star' version of yourself into the world...
...even though all the data coming into your senses tells you you're a circle.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/circle-to-star---single.png\")
chunkId: \"Circle to star surprise\"
This change in your consciousness creates surprise (free energy) in the system.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/circle-to-stra-surprise.png\")
I have represented surprise in black.
You'll notice that surprise is the gap between who you, the observer, believe yourself to be (a star)...
... and who the data coming into your consciousness (the observed) tells you you are (a circle)
This gap between who you are...
...and who your reality tells you you are...
...throws the system out of homeostasis.
It places the universe in a chaotic, high-entropy state.
Still with me?
chunkId: \"Two ways to restore homeostasis\"
Now, remember, we've deduced that the entire universe is a conscious system...
...just like a human body.
And just like a human body, it will rearrange everything within the system to minimize surprise.
In our universe, individual observers will appear to act individually —
...just like individual cells and organs in the body are observers, taking in data and independently responding to their environment.
And yet the system, as a whole, is undergoing a highly-coordinated emergent dance to minimize surprise...
...not just for the body as a whole...
...but for every observer within the system.
And, if our universe is a neural network, observing itself...
...then one can logically deduce that everything is an observer.
Every person.
Every tree.
Every pebble.
Every pet.
Every chair.
Every dollar.
Every star.
Every black hole.
Once you understand this, you understand that the universe is also performing an emergent, surprise-minimizing dance...
...and you are like a cell in a human body, thinking you are acting independently...
...not realizing you are a small piece of a grand mathematical mosaic.
Everything is connected.
Every movement.
Every thought.
Every word.
Every idea.
Every interaction.
Every event in space and time.
Even this one...
chunkId: \"Option 1\"
Yes.
'Woah' is an appropriate response here.
Now, in our circle analogy, there are only two ways for the system to restore homeostasis.
Option #1: The observer changes.
With this option, you, as the observer, go back to believing you are a circle.
Your physical reality still tells you you're a circle, so this is very easy to do.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/back-to-circle.png\")
If you think, speak and act out a belief system that says 'I am a circle'...
...and your physical reality tells you you're a circle...
...then there is no more surprise in the system.
Homeostasis is restored.
chunkId: \"A metaphorical circle\"
Of course, I'm using a metaphor here.
In a more literal sense, 'being a circle' could mean thinking/speaking/acting like a poor/weak/worthless/victimized person.
If your physical reality tells you you're poor/weak/worthless/victimized...
...and you continue to believe that about yourself...
...and express that version of yourself into the world via thought/word/deed...
...then homeostasis is restored in the system.
Everything that shows up in your reality will assist you in experiencing yourself as poor/weak/worthless/victimized.
Because that's who you are.
That's the version of yourself that you're expressing into the world.
But remember — there is a second option to restore homeostasis to the system.
Do you want to know what it is?
chunkId: \"Option 2\"
Option #2: The observed changes.
This is the most powerful option.
In fact, this option is the cheat code to the game we call 'Life.'
With this option, you, as the observer, continue to think, speak and act like a star...
...even though your physical reality (the observed) tells you you're a poor, worthless circle.
Instead of letting the world tell you who you are...
...you decide who you are, and express that version of yourself into the world.
If you do this, the universe must minimize the free energy in the system to restore homeostasis.
Your physical reality will bend and rearrange, taking the most parsimonious route through mutual expectation…
…until one day, you look out into your life and realize that it reflects your new self-concept: being abundant, worthy, wealthy, successful, or whatever other belief system you are acting out.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/10/circle-to-star-transition.png\"){kind=spacer}
Does that make sense?
chunkId: \"Who am I?\"
Great!
So this neuroscientist, Karl Friston, developed his free energy principle by studying biological systems.
Friston believes he’s found a unifying theory of consciousness.
But it’s not just a unifying theory of consciousness.
If everything = consciousness, then it's a unifying theory of everything.
It’s the computation that’s creating our physical reality.
And the question that lies at the heart of his algorithm is this…
Who am I?
That’s the question we are answering every moment of every day.
It is the question that is manifesting our physical reality on an individual and collective basis.
According to simple deductive logic, the universe is designed to give us a physical experience of our own consciousness.
chunkId: \"Law of attraction\"
Yes.
This algorithm is a scientific, mathematical explanation for the Law of Attraction.
And please don’t misunderstand me here.
I am not talking about the delusional idea that you can just visualize a million dollars in your bank account and that money will magically materialize without you lifting a finger.
That’s bullshit, and a form of spiritual escapism.
It’s very comfortable to believe that the universe will swoop in and save you from your own terrible habits and poor decisions if you just unlock ‘The Secret’ and think positively enough.
But the truth is, nobody is coming to save you.
The universe will do nothing for you that you will not do for yourself.
Why?
Because you (the observer), and the universe (the observed) are the same thing.
The universe will merely reflect yourself back to you, like a mirror.
And your thoughts are the least dense expression of who you are.
Your actions are the densest expression of who you are.
Therefore, it’s your actions that shift the most free energy and mold your reality.
The Law of Attraction, in its truest form, is this:
You don’t get what you want. You get who you are.
You see, our physical reality is like a river of information…
…and that information is merely taking the most parsimonious route (i.e. the path of least resistance) through mutual expectation.
![](\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*vE_ck917gOkeVBsH4Zwh5Q.jpeg\")
If a million dollars were to show up in your bank account tomorrow without you lifting a finger, you would get a prediction error: a gap between what you expect to happen, and what actually happens.
Therefore, that scenario represents a giant boulder of resistance in the river of information.
Your reality could manifest a million dollars, but it won’t — because taking that route is unparsimonious.
Here’s another example…
If you’re a starving child in Africa, you deeply, subconsciously believe that resources are scarce.
That is your homeostatic state.
So that’s the reality you continue to manifest.
If you were to visualize a full meal, and then that full meal magically appeared out of nowhere, that would be surprising.
Unfortunately, this algorithm is self-reinforcing.
That’s why poverty is such a vicious cycle, and why power laws exist in our universe.
It’s why the rich get richer.
If you take money from the rich to give to the poor, that money will eventually find its way back into the hands of the rich and it has nothing to do with physical money.
It’s because this algorithm will orchestrate events in space and time that redistribute the money back into the hands of those who think, speak, and act out an abundant belief system.
Again, the universe is just minimizing surprise and restoring homeostasis, so every observer gets to physically experience their own consciousness.
chunkId: \"Law of attraction - part two\"
Good.
Now, this is where 'new age' spiritual folk get it wrong when they tell you to just 'think positive' all the time.
Hacking this game is not about positive thinking...
It's about seeing the world exactly as it is, and then making the highest choice.
And sometimes you need to wade through the shit to figure out what that 'highest choice' is for you.
Sometimes you need to depart from who you are, to figure out who you are.
You cannot know who you are, until you know who you are not.
Life is a constant process of becoming.
And in this process, your thoughts are the least dense expression of who you are.
Your actions are the densest expression of who you are.
Therefore, it's your actions that shift the most free energy, and mold your reality.
The Law of Attraction, in its truest form, is this:
You don't get what you want. You get who you are.
If you're a starving child in Africa, you deeply, subconsciously believe that resources are scarce.
That is your homeostatic state.
So that's the reality you continue to generate.
If you were to visualize a full meal, and then that full meal magically appeared out of nowhere, that would be surprising.
Hence, why that scenario doesn't show up in your game.
Unfortunately, this algorithm is self-reinforcing.
That's why poverty is such a vicious cycle, and why power laws exist in our universe.
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.
If you take money from the rich to give to the poor, that money will eventually find its way back into the hands of the rich, and it has nothing to do with physical money.
It's because this algorithm will orchestrate events in space and time that redistribute the money back into the hands of those who think, speak and act out an abundant belief system.
Again, the universe is just minimizing surprise and restoring homeostasis, so every observer gets to physically experience their own consciousness.
chunkId: \"Long Term System Correction\"
Oh, of course they do!
Things never go exactly to plan and this algorithm explains why.
Firstly, the universe isn’t just minimizing your surprise.
It’s minimizing the mutual surprise (and the future expected surprise) in the system.
If the river of information is flowing very powerfully in one direction, but you expect it to move in the opposite direction, then the momentum of the river will overpower your expectation and you’ll be surprised.
Secondly, chaos (surprise) is just a long-term system correction.
It is a mathematical consequence of evolution, because the system cannot evolve without chaos.
Once you begin to see and understand these deep mathematical patterns in the universe, life begins to make a lot more sense.
(Again, I explain all of these patterns and more in Renegade OS).
So, you see, this is what most people don’t understand…
Life is a game.
But it’s not a game that you control with joysticks or a keyboard.
It’s a game that you control with your consciousness.
Just look at what I’m doing right now…
I’m playing with you.
You’re a character in my game, and I’m a character in yours.
Our fates are intertwined in a mathematical mosaic.
These words have manifested in your experience for a reason.
They are an important piece in the puzzle of your life.
chunkId: \"A new quest\"
Well, your game is presenting a new quest to you.
A new opportunity for you to create and experience who you really are.
How you choose to respond to this quest will determine the next thing that unfolds in your game.
Do you ignore this call to adventure and go back to your old way of thinking?
Or do you embrace this opportunity to understand yourself — and your place in the universe — a little bit better.
The choice is yours.
You are making choices like this every moment of every day.
And by your choices do you write your story into the fabric of spacetime.
Your choices are moulding your consciousness like clay...
...and then your physical reality is minimizing the free energy that those choices create...
...so you get to physically experience what would otherwise be a purely mathematical, conceptual idea of yourself.
chunkId: \"Bend the universe\"
Yes, you can bend reality.
In fact, according to this algorithm, all our known 'laws of physics' are not immutable laws at all.
They are strong neuroses in the program...
...i.e. consistent emergent patterns that can theoretically be manipulated.
Hence, the occurrence of mystical phenomena and religious 'miracles'.
It's not 'woo woo' or 'holy', it's just math.
But don't go jumping off buildings, or anything.
I said our laws of physics can theoretically be manipulated, in a purely mathematical, conceptual sense.
In a practical sense, it would take an exceedingly enlightened consciousness to generate enough free energy to disrupt a neurosis as strong as Newton's laws.
...and even then, nobody is about to start flying anytime soon.
chunkId: \"Bending reality part two\"
When I talk about bending reality, I'm not talking about bending our laws of physics.
I'm talking about learning to play this game called 'Life'.
Actually, have you ever had a lucid dream before?
Where you wake up inside a dream?
chunkId: \"Lucid dream part one\"
See, when you wake up inside a dream, you realize you can control it with your consciousness...
...because there is no separation between everything inside of you (the observer), and everything outside of you (the observed).
They are the same thing.
Our physical reality also shares this non-dual architecture.
And thus, it follows the same principles.
We currently exist in very, very dense dream.
When you 'wake up' inside this dream, you can learn to sculpt reality like an artist sculpts clay.
Granted, the clay in our physical reality is quite stiff and calcified, compared to your imagination...
(there is a mathematical reason for this, which I explain in Renegade OS)
...but it is still generally sculptable, nonetheless.
It's just like playing a computer game...
If you don't understand the rules of the game, you blindly bop around, bumping into things, walking around in circles, thinking the game is pointless.
But if you understand the rules of the game...
...you can go from quest to quest, and ascend to the level of a master.
With Renegade OS, I want to show what this game really is, and how to play it.
chunkId: \"Who are you?\"
Hmm...
I guess it's worth introducing myself at this point...
I'm Nikki.
Nikki Durkin.
This is me.
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/nikki-small.jpeg\")
And up until a few years ago, I was just an ordinary millennial, navigating my way through life.
But then, something extraordinary happened.
chunkId: \"Journey of discovery\"
I'll get to that in Renegade OS.
But it was something so extraordinarily weird, that I couldn't let it go.
I became obsessed with answers.
I needed to know the Truth.
So I set out on a journey of discovery.
A journey to reverse-engineer the universe.
Sounds crazy, right?
chunkId: \"Figure it out myself\"
Oh, believe me, I know.
But something just wasn't adding up in my life.
Religion made no sense to me.
But neither did the materialist paradigm that the scientific establishment had shoved down my throat.
Within a few days of embarking on my journey, it became exceedingly obvious to me that the scientific establishment had messed up their logic at first principles, and were lost in the weeds of this riddle.
I couldn't rely on authority figures to deliver me answers.
I couldn't rely on anyone.
If I wanted to find the Truth, I'd have to figure it out myself.
So, I did.
chunkId: \"Trail of clues\"
I followed a trail of clues around the world, from Sydney to Shanghai, New York to Thailand to Colombia to Paris.
For five years I collected dots from topics that fascinated me...
Science...
Philosophy...
Psychology...
Technology...
Spirituality...
I ran experiments.
No, not those kinds of experiments.
I ran experiments on my consciousness.
I observed patterns.
I watched the way my physical reality — my life — would bend in response to my own self-concept.
chunkId: \"The epiphany\"
And then, one balmy summer's day in February 2019, I stumbled across a scientific paper written by an English neuroscientist named Karl Friston.
And suddenly, everything made sense.
Every dot connected in my mind.
Everything I had ever been through.
Every book I had ever read.
Every topic I'd explored.
Every event I'd experienced in my life.
Every 'coincidence.'
Every success.
Every failure.
Every friend.
Every romance.
Every doubt.
Every hope.
Every dream.
Every intuitive nudge.
Every thought that I'd ever had about myself and about the world.
This was it.
This was the answer I'd been searching for...
The answer to life, the universe, and everything...
The Free Energy Principle.
chunkId: \"Emergent patterns\"
I know, I know.
But I'm just so enraptured by this idea!
The free energy principle is the most simple, elegant and powerful concept I've ever come across.
In Renegade OS, I demonstrate how this recursive computation generates emergent patterns that describe everything from economics and business to Jungian psychology, to mathematical concepts of love and morality, to the Law of Attraction, to biology, to physics, to philosophy, to mythology, to mystical/paranormal phenomena, to death, to cosmology, to evolution, to mental illness, to yin-yang polarities, to relationships, to the fermi paradox, and many other things.
I'm convinced it is the machine code for our universe.
It's humanity's ticket out of The Matrix.
It's our escape route.
Our key.
Karl Friston's work is the catalyst for the biggest technological and philosophical revolution the world has ever seen!
chunkId: \"Bold claim\"
Yes, it is.
But remember — my conclusion rests on just one postulate.
According to simple deductive logic, the only way I'm wrong is if that postulate is untrue.
So, you're free to think I'm full of shit.
But if you think I'm full of shit, you also have to think that one of the top neuroscientists in the world is full of shit.
I'm merely pointing to his work and demonstrating how it goes way beyond neuroscience.
If Friston is right, and he has found a unifying theory of consciousness, then his work can also unify everything in our universe.
Remember, everything is consciousness.
And if Friston is wrong, then the scientific community still needs to look for their ‘theory of everything’ inside neuroscience...
...because I just deductively slaughtered materialism as a paradigm.
So, you see, I merely have the courage of my convictions.
chunkId: \"Private person\"
Thank you.
To be honest, I'm quite a private person.
I rarely let people inside my mind, because it is a very strange place...
...and I'm quite used to being laughed at for my 'weird ideas', when I do choose to express them.
But, here's the thing:
Progress relies on ideas that, at first, seem strange and counter-intuitive...
Because if something is intuitive and obvious, it would not be new and progressive.
...it would already be common sense.
Everything we now take for granted as 'normal', once seemed weird and counter-intuitive.
That's why I'm going to make an exception...
chunkId: \"Inside my mind\"
I’m going to let you inside the labyrinth of my mind.
I want you to see what I see so clearly.
I want to take you through the complex web of dots and show you how they all connect to this little piece of math.
I want to shake you to your core and make you question everything you think you know.
I want to expose the cheat code for this game we’re playing and show you how to hack your reality.
And I don’t want to just give you the finished answer and tell you what to think.
School already does that, and Renegade OS isn’t school.
Nor is Renegade OS a faith-based religion, like Christianity or Materialism.
We will purely be dealing in deductive logic, not wild, whimsical theories or irrational dogma.
And I will never ask you to take my word for something. You’re not a child. You can think for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
I’m merely going to show you how to think…
…and, more specifically, how to think from first principles.
Because, as I’ve just pointed out, our scientific establishment has failed us.
They have not reasoned from first principles.
They’ve reasoned from a self-appointed set of second principles…
…liberally handing out axioms like Oprah hands out free shit.
“You get an axiom! You get an axiom! Everyone gets an axiom!”
They’ve then pointed to their arbitrary set of axioms as evidence that materialism is correct, which is so intellectually lazy.
Because there is only one true axiom in this world: I think, therefore I am.
That is the only thing we know with 100% certainty.
So we are going to deduce everything from that single point.
And as we do that, we’ll discover something unexpected…
That science can, in fact, answer the deepest spiritual and philosophical questions we have about our existence.
With Renegade OS, there is no faith required.
Like space and time, spirituality (the observer) and science (the observed) are not mutually exclusive — they are different sides to the same coin.
Everything is connected...
Renegade OS merely offers a new, upgraded way of seeing and interacting with the world.
chunkId: \"A beautiful story\"
Ugh, I know.
It is maddeningly difficult to explain.
You kinda need to see it to understand it.
In a less-metaphorical (more literal) sense, I can best describe it like this...
Renegade OS is a deductive proof wrapped up in a beautiful story about life, love and the pursuit of happiness in a chaotic modern world.
chunkId: \"A book\"
Yes, it’s a book.
But not a physical book.
I’ve made it into a kind of online, interactive book so you can ask me questions…
…and interested people can organize around ideas in the book and contribute their own unique expertise to debug, improve, and build upon my thinking.
I want this to be an open, collaborative project that benefits humanity.
You see, I’m 100% confident in the core deductive logic underpinning Renegade OS…
…but I’d be surprised if I haven’t gotten some of the minor emergent details wrong, because those details rely on specialist knowledge…
…and I’m a creative polymath, not a specialist.
I can run this computation in my mind and describe all the emergent patterns it produces…
…then show you how those patterns match up with our observable universe.
But I do all of this in a weird, intuitive way — hence why I’m concerned that my description of an emergent pattern or two might be generally correct, but slightly imprecise.
And I’m not involved in the academic community, so I haven’t had any support along the way. I’ve developed this work all by myself while sitting in various cafes around the world.
So I’m not claiming that Renegade OS is a perfect, bug-free program...
...but I am claiming that the underlying deductive logic is rock solid.
That’s why I’m hoping people more knowledgeable than myself can help debug and extend Renegade OS.
I’m so excited to see what humanity is capable of when we unite and work together on important problems like these!
And in the interest of collaboration and the open exchange of knowledge, Renegade OS is completely free. Anyone can read and benefit from it.
chunkId: \"Zac\"
Ah, so, this is where labels become quite limiting.
It's a little from column A, a little from column B, a little from column C.
My friends have called it 'intellectual crack,' if that's helpful at all.
Renegade OS almost reads like science fiction...
...but minus the 'fiction' part, because the story is actually true...
...and the science is actually real.
Throughout these pages, you'll join me and my eccentric ginger sidekick, Zac —
(oh, this is Zac, by the way...)
![](\"https://nikkidurkin.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Zac.png\")
— on an intellectual adventure as we follow a trail of deductive logic, and break out of The Matrix.
This is a true story.
It is my story.
chunkId: \"Contents\"
So many things!
(But remember… everything is connected…)
Renegade OS is one continuous story, but each page represents a discrete idea. Most pages can be read in 4–8 minutes.
You can access the contents page by clicking the button in the header.
Here. I'll open it for you now...
chunkId: \"What do you think?\"
And, yes, I realize there is a lot of content in Renegade OS.
The story you're reading right now — 'The Great Existential Prison Break' — is the TLDR version of Renegade OS.
It's the trailer for the full show.
And, to be honest, this short story might even be too much of a mindfuck for most people to handle.
As Morpheus said in The Matrix: \"You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.\"
I wrote Renegade OS for the intellectually curious among us;
The people, like me, who yearn to understand themselves and their place in the universe;
The people, like me, who want to understand the mathematical rules of this game so they can master their life.
Oh, and I know the topics might sound technical, but don’t worry — Renegade OS is a conceptual framework, not a maths/science textbook.
I reduce technical concepts to simple visual models and explain them to you like you’re five…
…then I show you how these concepts apply to your life in very practical ways — whether it be with money, relationships, finding your purpose, etc.
Renegade OS is a story about life, not a story about science.
So, what do you think?
chunkId: \"Crazy and grandiose\"
Oh! I just love your curiosity.
And, look. I realize this all sounds kinda crazy and grandiose.
I know I sound like I'm in a mind-bending Christopher Nolan film.
And I also know that I’m trolling the scientific establishment a little bit, but that’s only because they’ve made themselves an easy target…
They’ve left their flank open for attack, so here I am, poking and prodding it with simple logic.
I couldn’t help myself…
But in all honesty, I’ve spent my whole life trying to hide my crazy from the world.
Yet here it is, poured onto a page for you to laugh at — or for you to learn from, depending on how you look at it.
I’ve had to go through a huge amount of personal growth to even muster up the courage to publish this work.
And I’m well aware that the scientific community has labels for outspoken outsiders like me: crank, crackpot, crazy, delusional.
I think it’s any artist’s biggest fear: being laughed at, ridiculed, misunderstood…
Your creativity being misconstrued as madness…
The courage of your convictions being passed off as immodest arrogance…
And yet, from where I’m standing, I’m not the one making delusional, unsubstantiated claims.
It’s come to the point where someone needs to call the scientific community on their bullshit.
Scientists are the custodians of technological progress in our world and they are currently falling so short of their potential.
Unfortunately, the bugs in their thinking are baked into the core foundations of science, so I have very little faith that they’ll be able to sort this problem out themselves.
Thus, if they can’t solve this riddle, the task must fall on the shoulders of an artist — an outsider who hasn’t spent an entire academic career marinating in false materialist dogma.
Because that’s the role of artists in our society.
They observe the world and expose the truth.
They make you confront uncomfortable things about yourself, about society.
Artists push buttons and challenge existing paradigms.
They hold a mirror up and force you to stare at your ugly reflection until you squirm.
Some artists do it with paint, or music, or film, or stand-up comedy.
I will merely be doing it with words and logic.
So, you see, I couldn’t not complete this quest.
It would be too selfish.
I believe in enlightenment values — truth, reason, and the separation of church and state.
Materialism is a faith-based religion — a clunky, buggy operating system — that has infected our minds and caused so much needless suffering in the world.
It teaches us that we are all separate, fragmented, purposeless meat-robots blundering around Earth, and we are not.
There is no evidence or logic to support this disempowering idea.
Humans are clever enough to build nuclear weapons capable of bringing about the total annihilation of our species…
...yet we're still running our minds — and, by extension, our modern society — on an operating system built by apes.
Come on.
This is ridiculous and dangerous...
...especially with the increasing power of our modern technology.
As the mathematician and economist, Eric Weinstein, once said on a Joe Rogan podcast: \"We are now Gods, but for the wisdom.\"
Thus, if humanity is to build a more beautiful future for all of its citizens (not just the fortunate ones), we must evolve our thinking.
Einstein was right: “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”
And God knows, we have our fair share of problems in this world.
So, since our academic institutions — with all their money, power and resources — won't upgrade their minds and disrupt themselves, they have left me no choice.
I'll have to do it for them.
I will lead The Rebellion.
chunkId: \"A rebellion\"
Yes.
An intellectual rebellion.
We fight this fight with weapons forged from thought, not steel.
So, like I said earlier, I will never force anyone to believe me, or claim that my way is the only way.
I am not a guru.
Or a thought leader.
Or a public intellectual.
Or an authority figure.
I don't even have a university degree.
I'm just a quiet, unsuspecting millennial autodidact, writing this from a cafe in Colombia as I sip my soy cappuccino and watch the world go by.
So you're free to believe whatever you want to believe.
I don't really care, to be honest.
I'm not trying to sell you an expensive life-coaching program, or anything.
I just want to make this world a little brighter.
I just want to bring some clarity to us all.
I just want to help people help themselves, because seeing people happy and thriving brings me joy.
That's how I personally choose to play this game called 'Life'.
chunkId: \"How are you feeling?\"
So, tell me...
How are you feeling?
Perhaps you're experiencing some cognitive dissonance?
You understand the logic, but your mind is trying to reject the new program.
It all seems so... weird.
Don't worry — it's normal.
I went through this process, too.
You're beginning to wake up.
You haven't used your eyes — like, really used your eyes — in a long time.
What I just fed you was a tiny sample of the red pill I've concocted.
The full version of Renegade OS is the most potent thing your mind will ever swallow.
It will rewire your brain, and make you rethink everything about your life.
Change is uncomfortable, but it is also necessary for growth.
Change starts with one person.
It starts with you.
But you have to want to free your mind.
You have to choose the Truth.
So, are you ready to upgrade your consciousness?
Are you ready to rethink everything you think you know?
C'mon.
Let's do this.
Take my hand, and we'll break out of The Matrix together.
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