The Rosetta Stone

A shared vocabulary for translating between domains

The translation problem

Physics has its vocabulary. Biology has its vocabulary. Mathematics has its vocabulary. Ancient Chinese philosophy has its vocabulary.

They can't easily talk to each other.

When a physicist says "singularity" and a biologist says "origin point" and the Dao De Jing says 無 (wú), are they pointing at the same thing? It's hard to tell when they're using completely different terms.

The Recursive Structural Model — RSM — is an attempt to build a shared vocabulary. Not a new theory that replaces any of these domains. Just a translation layer that lets you check whether the patterns actually match or just look like they match.

The core vocabulary

Four terms. That's all you need to start translating.

O — Origin

The center that can't be occupied.

Every stable structure organizes around something. But when you try to stand on that something — to occupy it, measure it, pin it down — you either destroy the system or discover there's nothing there to stand on.

The origin defines everything by being nothing you can reach.

In physics: singularities, reference frames, the point masses we use in calculations but can never actually encounter
In biology: the hollow pith, the original cell that's long gone, the "you" that persists while every cell is replaced
In mathematics: zero, the origin of coordinate systems, the point where axes meet but that itself has no extension
In the DDJ: 無名 (wú míng) — "the nameless," the implicit center that precedes all distinction

G — Gradient

The field that extends from the origin.

Once you have a center, you have distance-from-center. That's the gradient — the slope, the field, the space where things can move and be measured.

Tree rings radiating outward. Gravitational fields curving around mass. Temperature differences that make heat flow. The coordinate system that lets you locate things relative to the origin.

In physics: gravitational fields, electromagnetic gradients, spacetime curvature
In biology: growth rings, concentration gradients, developmental axes
In mathematics: the number line, coordinate axes, function domains
In the DDJ: 天地 (tiān dì) — heaven and earth, the vertical and horizontal axes of transformation

P — Periphery

The surface where measurement happens.

The outer boundary. The interface between inside and outside. The place where you can actually stand, observe, interact.

You can't measure the origin directly. You measure at the periphery and infer back.

In physics: measurement surfaces, horizons, observable shells
In biology: membranes, bark, the interface between organism and environment
In mathematics: boundary conditions, limit points, where functions are evaluated
In the DDJ: 有名 (yǒu míng) — "the named," what can be articulated; also 萬物 (wàn wù) — "the ten thousand things"

P → O (Recursion)

Any periphery can become a new origin.

This is the move that makes the pattern recursive — that lets it repeat at every scale.

A branch point on a tree becomes the "trunk" of its own sub-branch system. A cell divides and each daughter cell becomes a new origin. A thought crystallizes and becomes the center around which other thoughts orbit.

The same pattern, nested. All the way down, all the way up.

In physics: renormalization, nested reference frames, scale invariance
In biology: branching, cell division, fractal growth
In mathematics: recursion, self-similarity, nested functions
In the DDJ: 玄之又玄 (xuán zhī yòu xuán) — "mystery within mystery"

A concrete example: the tree

Let's ground this vocabulary.

Origin (O): The pith — the original seedling, now often hollow or rotted away. The tree organized around this point for decades, but the point itself is gone. The center defined everything by being nothing.

Gradient (G): The growth rings — layers of wood accreting outward over time. Also the medullary rays, running from center to bark. The tree grows along these gradients.

Periphery (P): The cambium — the thin layer between wood and bark where growth actually happens. Also the bark itself, the boundary between tree and not-tree.

Recursion (P → O): Branch nodes — points where the main trunk's periphery becomes a new origin. Each branch repeats the same O → G → P structure at smaller scale. Leaves repeat it again. And so on.

Now here's the test: does this same structure appear elsewhere?

The same structure in physics

Origin (O): A point mass, a singularity, the center of a coordinate system — the reference point that defines the space but can't itself be occupied.

Gradient (G): The gravitational field, the electromagnetic field, spacetime curvature — what extends from the origin and tells things how to move.

Periphery (P): The event horizon, the measurement surface, the shell where observations actually happen.

Recursion (P → O): Frame transformations — what's periphery in one reference frame can become zero in a new frame.

Same pattern. Different vocabulary.

The same structure in the Dao De Jing

Origin (O): 無名 (wú míng) — the nameless. 道 before it's named. The implicit ground that makes naming possible.

Gradient (G): 天地 (tiān dì) — heaven and earth. The vertical and horizontal axes that define the space of transformation.

Periphery (P): 萬物 (wàn wù) — the ten thousand things. The manifest world, the named, the measurable.

Recursion (P → O): 玄之又玄 (xuán zhī yòu xuán) — mystery within mystery. Each thing contains its own nameless origin.

Same pattern. Twenty-five centuries earlier.

The relationship to Euler's identity

You might have heard of Euler's identity: e^iπ + 1 = 0

It's often called the most beautiful equation in mathematics. Five fundamental constants connected by the simplest possible relationship.

Here's what it encodes in RSM terms:

0 = the origin that can't be occupied

1 = the unit of measurement, what you need to get anywhere

i = the 90° rotation, the orthogonal cut that creates distinction

π = the half-turn, the measure of going halfway around

e = the rate of continuous growth, what happens when you keep going

The equation says: if you rotate continuously (e) through a half-turn (iπ) and add the unit (1), you arrive at the origin (0).

Rotation completes. Opposites cancel. You end up at the center you could never reach directly.

What this is and isn't

This vocabulary is a tool. It might not be the only tool. It might not even be the best one. But it's precise enough to test. When it says two things have the same structure, you can check. When the structures don't match, you can see where they diverge.

That's all a Rosetta Stone does. It doesn't tell you what the hieroglyphics mean. It just lets you see that this symbol in one language corresponds to that symbol in another.

The meaning — that's still up to you.

Quick reference card

The Four Elements

Symbol	Name	What it is	Examples
O	Origin	Center that can't be occupied	Pith, singularity, zero, 無名
G	Gradient	Field extending from origin	Growth rings, gravity field, number line, 天地
P	Periphery	Surface where measurement happens	Bark, horizon, unit circle, 萬物
P→O	Recursion	Any periphery can become new origin	Branch nodes, nested frames, 玄之又玄

The Pattern in One Sentence

Stable structures organize around centers they can't occupy, along gradients that extend to boundaries, where any point can become a new center.

The Test

If something is a genuine example of this pattern, you should be able to identify:

Where the hollow/unoccupiable center is
What radiates or extends from that center
Where the boundary or measurement surface is
Where the pattern repeats at a different scale

If you can't find all four, either it's not an example of this pattern, or you're looking at it wrong.

If you get lost

Come back here.

Identify O, G, P, and the recursion.

Then keep going.