ASM Chapter 2 Figures

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Figure 2.4

The Period Stack: Six Dependency Layers from Computation to Pattern

Dependency increases downward

Reasoning Patterns

Depends on P1 through P5

Is Ts Gs Ds ?s

Long-Horizon Retention and Action

Depends on P1 through P4

Sm Pm Em | Rt Wt Lt Ct

Semantic Processing

Depends on P1 through P3

Lm Ec

Short-Horizon Retention

Depends on P1 and P2

Ss Wm

Context

Depends on P1

Es Ws Cp

Infrastructure

Depends only on Layer 0

Ce Fs Db Ex

Layer 0 (sub-atomic)

CPU GPU RAM Storage Network

Composition begins above P6. Agents are molecules, not elements.

Only period spanning two groups: Retention and Action share dependency depth P4.

Smallest period (2 elements). Scarcity reflects genuine rarity of semantic generation.

Retention without cognition: a transcript exists without an LLM.

State is prerequisite for retention.

No ASM dependency. Computational floor. Every element above depends on at least one P1 element.

Outside ASM scope. Physical hardware substrate.

Dependencies flow downward only. Nothing in a lower period depends on anything above it.

The period stack as a vertical cross-section. Dependencies flow downward: every element in a given period depends on elements in lower periods, and nothing in a lower period depends on anything above it. This one-directional structure is what makes the period axis derivable rather than assigned. A composition that requires a P5 element necessarily requires elements from P1 through P4, whether or not the designer of that composition explicitly included them. The sub-atomic Layer 0 (hardware substrate) sits below P1 and is outside the ASM element inventory.