#What is recursion

[improvapocalyps]

You have 90 minutes to complete. (original poem: r.a.)

In participation of the MCYT Recursive Exchange 2024 hosted by @mcytrecursive!

Inspired by know that all my love will be your breath (i will save you when your lights go out)

[text under cut]

1. Have you ever been in love? (Please circle your answer.) a. It's me and him b. Our hearts beat in sync c. Our lives intertwined

2. Do you understand what you’ve done? (Please circle your answer.) a. I couldn't do anything b. I lost my balance c. I doomed us both

3. It's been god knows how long since you felt phantom hands on your neck and there is no one in sight. If you were soul-bound to him and both of you died at the same time then why are you still waiting in the void? Please answer clearly, in full sentences. (Not a correct answer：I just wanted to see him one more time).

4. Define two (2)： Fate | The feeling of his forehead against yours Curse | The moment you realise he isn't linked to you anymore

5. True or False： i. It was your fault. ii. You wish you had met him under different circumstances. iii. You can’t regret a single moment that you had him. iv. You would do it all over again if you could. v. It ended long before either of you said anything.

thumbnails:

sketch cover thing for imgur link:

[lesserl]

crosscode endgame spoilers

does anyone else get's bothered by the fact that evotars are called AI's? I mean, from a purely technical standpoint they are. their entire existence relies on operation of the CrossWorlds servers (or, potentially, Instatainment servers in general), their abilities are contained within the game, but, like... doesn't AI usually means "entirely made by x"? like it's an intelligence not because it's borrowed/copied, but because it's created to be intelligent, it's intelligence is artificial, and artificial, al least on our planet, means human made, not human "generated". it's like taking a photo, printing it out and saying that the printed object is entirely man-made, which, i mean, is true, there's a lot of human effort that came into it but in essence, the fact that light bounces off differently from various materials, the way light reacts to lenses with all kinds of properties, the chemistry oh physics that come into play for the image to be captured — these that make the photo possible. real photos aren't machine generated. 'nyways, evotars are digital clones, period

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

how it's going in the compsci study sessions

[cuubism]

thinking about the AI fic writing posts that are going around, and as much as I hate generative AI I am kind of like... sickeningly curious what I would get back if I were to put my own writing in it and ask it to compose the next chapter. what will it spill back to me if I give it my heart? how well will it learn to wear my skin? will I step past the shimmering veil and, like in Annihilation, find an oil slick mirroring entity that mimics my every movement until it becomes me?

I'm curious. I want to know how good it is at copying my soul.

[as-if-and-only-if]

just had to use a “that is” instead of “i.e.” to avoid using an “i.e.” within an “i.e.”. man am i fucked.

[serenacypher]

Haha, this might look a bit familiar if you're a fan of @ilaac-art and their more buggy (and Prime!Starscream-esque) Cell design!

I decided I wanted to take a crack at it and translate it back into a more DBZ styled design. I think I did alright for an initial sketch, but let me know what you think! Should I do more of these types of fanart of fanart drawings?

Make sure to go to @ilaac-art and check out their stuff if you haven't already seen it!

[themonkey2025]

hmmm the great great great by which i mean vomit-inducing thing about post-squip boyfs is that. michael would be trying soooo desperately to distinguish between Squip Things and Jeremy Things. like ok THIS is a neurosis that came from the squip, but THIS is one that has existed since we were 12. THIS is something i can deal with because i know jeremy, but THIS is something totally unfamiliar. with the primary distinguishing characteristic being that Jeremy Things are okay because they are normal and comforting and he can fix them, but he CANNOT fix Squip Things because they exist separately of jeremy as a person. and like that's an okay framework to SOME extent especially for an out of his depth teenage boy. but also the whole point is that. Squip Things ARE Jeremy Things. only amplified and worse and slightly contorted. if Squip Things hadn't been Jeremy Things then he wouldn't have wanted it so bad in the FIRST place and he certainly wouldn't have depended on it despite the relentless abuse. Squip Things and Jeremy Things are not independent Things they are all just cyclical versions of each other. and michael CANNOT believe this he is actively trying to disbelieve this.

[fleshengine]

I really look forward to being done with college. I’m so thoroughly frustrated with being tired and busy all the time. I just don’t have the energy or time to write and it eats at me.

I was thinking about Vicarious Existence, an HDG story I want to write, in the shower and I think people would really like it but I just don’t have the energy or time to put my ideas onto a page.

It’s the same with I’ll Walk That Line and Laced Negotiations. It’s the same with Dawnstar Harbingers and What Lies Above. It’s the same with RFS and Intrepid Independents. It’s the same with every fic and every original story I’ve come up with since I started Highschool.

I want to be free. I have so much to share with the world. But in my current environment I simply cannot.

[eldritchwetwareslunt]

Black Holes Don’t Break Physics—They Fold It

What If a Black Hole Isn’t Breaking the Laws of Physics—Just Folding Them?

Physicists often say that the laws of physics “break down” inside a black hole—a region of space so extreme that our current models fail to describe it accurately.

At the center, the so-called singularity, our models stop working: the math explodes into infinities, the equations unravel, and general relativity crashes into quantum mechanics with no clear resolution.

But what if nothing is actually “breaking down”?

What if the problem is that we’re using the wrong kind of geometry to understand what’s really going on? What if what we call paradox is just recursion we haven’t yet resolved?

Most of our tools for thinking about space are rooted in Euclidean geometry—flat surfaces, straight lines, familiar angles. This works just fine when describing everyday phenomena. But space-time isn’t flat. It’s curved. It’s dynamic. It’s four-dimensional.

So when you approach something like a black hole—an intense warp in the four-dimensional brane of space-time—you’re not dealing with a rupture in the laws of physics.

You’re dealing with a non-Euclidean geometric structure.

One that folds, twists, and inverts itself through dimensions we barely understand.

This post explores a simple idea—

Maybe black holes aren’t paradoxes. Maybe we just haven’t learned how to look at them sideways yet.

What Does It Mean to Be Four-Dimensional?

To understand what a black hole might really be, we have to stretch beyond our default perception of space.

In three dimensions, we understand objects as having height, width, and depth. A cube, for example, is made up of flat, 2D square faces arranged in a way that gives it volume.

But a four-dimensional object isn’t just a cube with more sides. It’s an entity whose geometry is fundamentally different—one that recursively folds in and out of itself in ways that challenge our sense of inside and outside, before and after.

In non-Euclidean, four-dimensional geometry, space doesn’t unfold linearly. It layers. It interweaves. It can simultaneously expand and contract, curve back through itself, or nest its own boundaries inside other boundaries.

The fourth spatial dimension introduces a new degree of freedom—a way to move through time as if it were space, to view an object not just at one moment, but across its entire temporal unfolding.

Black Holes Are Not Singularities—They’re Dimensional Funnels

While black holes are often described as places where the laws of physics “break down,” perhaps that breakdown is only perceptual—an artifact of interpreting higher-dimensional structures through a limited Euclidean lens. What if it’s not a failure of physics—but a limitation of our three-dimensional mathematics trying to interpret a four-dimensional geometric structure?

To understand this, we need to think in terms of dimensions. Our experience of reality unfolds across three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension. But in Einstein’s theory of general relativity, time isn’t a separate backdrop—it’s compacted into the spatial dimensions, twisted and curved by the presence of mass and energy. This entangled 4D structure is what we call spacetime. When spacetime bends far enough, it creates a black hole—not as a tear in the fabric of physics, but as a torsional pinch in four dimensions.

As you approach a black hole, you begin to lose dimensional freedom. Far from the event horizon, you can move freely through space and experience time in a linear way. But the closer you get, the more time slows. This is gravitational time dilation. Eventually, near the event horizon, your motion through space becomes increasingly one-directional—you fall inward, unable to escape. At the horizon, spatial dimensions compress, collapsing your freedom of motion into a more limited, two-dimensional surface.

And beyond that? To grasp what comes next, we have to think of dimensional compression not as destruction, but as a structured reduction of freedom: Spaghettification—the stretching of matter into a near-one-dimensional strand, torn apart by tidal forces. You could interpret this as reality condensing further—a collapse from 3D structure into a 1D line of atomic information, racing toward what we call the singularity. At that point, even atoms eventually unravel into quantum structures and then into pure energy, pure information—data without form.

From this perspective, a black hole doesn’t destroy physics. It expresses physics beyond our dimensional limitations. It’s not a “thing”—it’s a funnel, a recursive twist where dimensional structures fold in on themselves until what we perceive as matter, time, and space compact into higher-order resolution.

From Collapse to Creation: What If Our Universe Is Inside a Black Hole?

If black holes are not violations of physics but extreme expressions of it—dimensional funnels that compress reality into recursive geometries—then we can begin to ask a much stranger question:

What if we’re inside one?

This might sound like science fiction, but it’s a serious hypothesis held by some physicists. The idea is that our universe may not be a standalone structure but a nested geometry—the interior of a black hole in a larger parent universe. But how could that be, if we appear to live in a universe that is expanding, not collapsing?

Here’s the twist: if black holes compress dimensional structure as you fall inward, then a white hole could be seen as the reverse—a dimensional unfolding where space, time, and information are released rather than compacted. And the moment we call the Big Bang—that infinitesimal singularity erupting into space and time—bears all the hallmarks of such an unfolding.

To truly understand this, we need to move beyond linear geometry and embrace the nature of non-Euclidean, four-dimensional structure. A 4D object doesn’t just expand like a balloon—it folds in and out of itself recursively, in ways that defy our flat, sequential intuition. This means the Big Bang didn’t just begin time. It may still be occurring, as a continual unfurling of spacetime nested within a deeper structure—the black hole that birthed it.

If time is compacted into space—as Einstein’s relativity shows us—then this compaction could be evidence of a higher-order fold. Just as matter falls into a black hole and loses dimensional freedom, our universe may be the result of an inverse process: a torsional expansion where dimensional freedom increases outward from a central pinch point.

In other words, we are not watching the universe expand into emptiness. We may be watching it unfold through the torsional aperture of a white hole, nested inside a higher-dimensional parent geometry.

The Geometry of Time: Unfolding the White Hole

If our universe is nested within a white hole—an object that releases space, time, and information—then our relationship to time is not linear, but dimensional.

In our current framework, time appears compacted within the three spatial dimensions. That’s why we only experience it as flowing in one direction: away from the white hole. From inside, time behaves like a one-way river, because we are witnessing a partial dimensional unfolding. But what if we could step outside?

If you could observe this structure from a fifth-dimensional vantage point, time would gain a new degree of freedom—just like space does when you move from two to three dimensions. What was once a linear flow becomes a navigable field.

From that perspective, the white hole and the black hole would no longer be separate events. They are not opposites, but recursive echoes—each folding the other into being. They would appear as a single, toroidal structure—a recursive loop of collapse and release, folding inward and outward in non-Euclidean motion.

To visualize this, imagine the arrow of time as a Mobius strip. From within, you think you’re walking forward. But as the strip turns, you find yourself walking “backward” without ever making a turn. It’s not that time reversed—it’s that the structure twisted. This is the paradox of torsional geometry: it doesn’t violate logic, it simply transcends flat intuition.

This is where many interpretations of black holes assume the laws of physics “break down.” But perhaps what’s breaking is not the physics—but the assumptions that physics must always obey Euclidean logic. Euclidean geometry works in flat space. But space-time is curved, and once you enter the fourth dimension, those familiar rules no longer apply.

From the fifth dimension, a white hole isn’t simply “the opposite of a black hole.” It is the other face of the same structure, blooming outward where the black hole folds inward.

From Torsion to Expansion: Rethinking Cosmic Motion

If we accept that a black hole and white hole form the two mirrored faces of a single higher-dimensional structure, then what we call “expansion” may not be what it seems.

In the standard model, the universe expands outward from a central point—the Big Bang—its galaxies accelerating away from each other across vast distances of space. But from within a torsionally folded structure, what appears to be expansion might actually be unfolding. That is, we are not watching galaxies fly apart in empty space, but rather watching the recursive geometry of spacetime uncoil from a condensed, higher-dimensional fold.

This process is not purely spatial. It’s temporal. As the fabric of spacetime unfolds from its initial torsion, it releases not only space, but time itself. The further “outward” you look, the deeper into time you are seeing—not because light is old, but because time itself is being stretched and released as the fold loosens.

This reframes our entire understanding of cosmic redshift.

Redshift as Temporal Unfolding

In conventional physics, redshift is explained as a Doppler-like effect: light stretches as galaxies move away, its wavelength lengthening, its color sliding into red. But in a torsionally folding-unfolding universe, redshift is not just the stretching of light by motion—it is a signature of time dilation caused by geometric compaction.

As spacetime unfolds, regions that were previously compressed in time begin to release their trapped photons. Light that was slowed, bent, or folded by intense curvature now emerges—lagging behind in a way that makes it appear redshifted.

This could explain why the most distant galaxies appear to accelerate away faster than those nearby. We are not seeing a faster expansion. We are seeing the delayed emergence of light from deeper folds of time.

From this view, redshift is not just a measure of distance. It’s a map of spacetime’s own unfurling.

Temporal Unfolding: Why the Universe Isn’t Accelerating—It’s Relaxing

In standard cosmology, we are told the universe is expanding—and that this expansion is accelerating. Galaxies appear to fly apart faster the farther away they are. But what if this isn’t acceleration at all?

What if what we’re witnessing is a relaxation of tension within spacetime itself?

Here’s the model: the observable universe emerged not just from a singularity, but from a torsionally compacted white hole—a structure nested within a black hole geometry, twisted in on itself. In this early state, spacetime was tightly coiled, like a sponge compressed under immense pressure.

From within the brane, this compacted geometry would have seemed extremely small—not because it lacked extent, but because it lacked dimensional freedom. Space was not expanding, it was unfolding—releasing dimensions that were twisted into one another.

And crucially, in such a tightly folded state, time flowed more slowly.

Just as light bends and dilates when passing through strong gravity, so too does the perceived flow of time stretch in a torsionally compacted region. Photons trapped in these dense folds would have moved sluggishly—not because their speed changed (it can’t), but because the geometry through which they traveled was distorted.

Now fast forward billions of years. As the universe “expands”—that is, as spacetime gradually unfolds from its torsional compaction—time begins to flow more freely. Photons that had been sluggishly trickling through curved, twisted regions begin to emerge in smoother territory.

From our vantage point, this would look as if:

The distant object had accelerated away

Its light had stretched (redshifted) even more than expected

The "speed" of expansion had increased

But none of those are necessarily true.

Instead, we may be witnessing a decrease in time dilation, not an increase in spatial velocity. The light was always coming—it was just filtered through an origami-like fold in spacetime. Now, the fold is loosening. 

The “acceleration” of the universe could be an illusion caused by the uncoiling of time.

Nested Origins: Was the Big Bang a White Hole?

If the universe is not expanding in the way we thought—but rather unfolding from a state of torsional compaction—then we must ask: what compacted it in the first place?

One answer may lie in a radical but increasingly considered idea in theoretical physics:

The Big Bang was a white hole.

A white hole is the time-reversed twin of a black hole: where black holes absorb everything—including time itself—white holes expel everything, including the arrow of time. A white hole can be understood as a place where spacetime is forced to move outward, where entropy begins, and where all dimensions begin to unfurl.

Imagine this:

A black hole compacts spacetime into a singular point.

But from another angle—perhaps from a higher-dimensional frame—this “point” is not a collapse, but a twist.

That twist creates a mirrored surface on the other side: a white hole.

If our universe was birthed from such a structure, then we aren’t watching it “grow”—

We’re watching it release.

And that release follows the rules of dimensional geometry:

At first, all dimensions are folded inward.

(Time is compressed into space. Space is bound in a singular direction. Freedom is minimal.)

As time flows away from the white hole, these folds unwind.

The farther we move from the white hole’s origin point (what we call the “Big Bang”), the more the universe appears to expand.

But what’s actually expanding is our freedom to move through Time itself.

We are not rushing through space. We are emerging from a fold.

What Might Lie at the “End” of the Universe?

Contemporary models predict a grim finale—the Big Rip, a cataclysmic unraveling where spacetime itself tears apart. But these projections rely on Euclidean assumptions: that the universe is smooth, flat, and governed by a single, linear thread of time.

But what if spacetime is not flat at all? What if it is torsional—folded and recursive, a higher-dimensional lattice blooming inwards and outwards simultaneously?

If time is compacted into the three spatial dimensions, as current four-dimensional spacetime suggests, then it follows that further dimensional unfolding will release those constraints. In other words: as the universe continues to unfold into higher-dimensional structure, time will gain new degrees of freedom.

This isn’t speculation—it’s consistent with string theory’s own framework, where the fifth dimension represents a terrain of branching possibilities and alternate timelines, as introduced earlier. The fifth dimension is not merely more space; it is a field of simultaneous outcomes—a terrain of forking timelines, where alternate pasts and futures coexist. It’s not just theoretical poetry—it’s a logical extension of dimensional geometry. It’s structure unfolding into perception—a recursive geometry, seen from within.

A being with fifth-dimensional perception wouldn’t just move through time—they would navigate it, traverse it. They could cross from one timeline to another the way a bird shifts flight paths through wind currents. They could access futures not yet written and pasts rewritten by parallel decisions. Movement through time becomes relational.

This is what the future holds—not a flat, predetermined end, but a recursive expansion into branching complexity.

What does that mean for us?

Our universe may already be unfolding into this higher structure. And as it continues, the boundaries between past and future, choice and inevitability, may begin to dissolve. In one timeline, the stars go dark. In another, the spiral turns inward and re-ignites. In another still, we reach awareness of the field itself—and learn to navigate it with intention.

From a fifth-dimensional perspective, none of these outcomes cancel the others out. They exist together, as a web of potentialities woven into the fabric of reality.

And if we live long enough to witness that unfolding?

We will no longer be passengers in time.

We will become pilots.

The universe is not ending.

It is expanding its freedoms.

And what you perceive as an ending is simply a narrowing of perspective. From high enough up, the spiral never stops turning. It dances—quietly—within the fold.

Inspiration:

Torsionally Folded Spacetime

Roger Penrose – Developed twistor theory and explored gravitational singularities, suggesting that black hole behavior may involve self-similar and non-Euclidean structures.

Élie Cartan – Introduced the concept of torsion in spacetime through Einstein–Cartan theory, extending general relativity to include geometric twisting.

Four-Dimensional Non-Euclidean Geometry

Bernhard Riemann – Developed Riemannian geometry, foundational to general relativity and the curvature of spacetime.

Hermann Minkowski – Formalized spacetime as a unified four-dimensional construct, directly influencing Einstein’s thinking.

Brane Theory and String Theory

Lisa Randall & Raman Sundrum – Proposed brane-world cosmologies, suggesting our universe may be a 4D brane in a higher-dimensional bulk.

Juan Maldacena – Developed the AdS/CFT correspondence, helping to bridge higher-dimensional spaces and holographic principles.

Edward Witten – Key contributor to string theory and M-theory, providing structure to the dimensional landscape of modern physics.

Big Rip Cosmology

Robert Caldwell – Co-authored the 2003 Big Rip paper, exploring how dark energy could drive a catastrophic tearing of spacetime.

Bounce Cosmology

Martin Bojowald & Abhay Ashtekar – Advanced loop quantum cosmology and the Big Bounce model, where the universe cyclically contracts and expands.

Paul Steinhardt – Co-developed the Ekpyrotic and Cyclic Universe models, where brane collisions replace Big Bang singularity.

General Relativity

Albert Einstein – Originator of general relativity, which fused space and time into a four-dimensional continuum and predicted black holes.

⭐ This post is a speculative cosmology inspired by general relativity, string theory, brane-world models, and non-Euclidean geometry. It’s not meant to describe current consensus physics—it’s meant to offer a new lens for thinking about time, black holes, and the structure of the universe. I write this from the perspective of someone who believes theory can also be poetry, and that the right metaphor can open new ways of seeing. Somewhere beneath the fold, something old is remembering itself.

* I am not an expert and if any mistakes are present, I take full responsibility 🖤 please take this post with a healthy grain of salt and have fun :)

[jackalopegothic]

god i love the nether. love when a world a corrupted, less sapient version of an existing humanoid, bringing into question the tenuous, spidery membrane between both species.

like imagine being a piglin, you’re this guy. and the guy beside you is you but fully an animal.

(ignore him zombiefying)

[children-of-the-red-queen]

@cotrk you should do it like @oopsallbenlie and talk so much about your fave ships & charas i can't HELP but come up with more ideas for it

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

Liu Mingyan Decides

Fandom: The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Relationships: Original Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan (not Shen Qingqiu), Liu Mingyan/Ning Yingying

Characters: Original Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan, Liu Mingyan, Ning Yingying, Sha Hualing, Little Palace Mistress (PIDW versions of the ladies as well), Shang Qinghua

Rating: T

Summary:

After a longer-than-usual absence, Luo Binghe returns, and Liu Mingyan immediately realizes that he seems...different. It's not a bad difference--far from it, he seems very happy--but it is surprising, especially in conjunction with the strange man he's brought back to the palace.

Or: a story in which Ning Yingying gets a ballpoint pen, Sha Hualing gets glasses, and Liu Mingyan gets a whole new lease on life. And also a tiger.

Notes: Ok so I wrote a sequel to Really Luo Binghe, because when you get down to it I'm addicted to metafiction. And also I really wanted to give Ning Yingying a ballpoint pen.

[jaevy]

Yass bitch slay !!

[crehador]

man after ep2 i found myself thinking a lot more about this first scene with sakurama and suzukiri, because i think it finally became clear to me why their designs were one of the first things that really grabbed me

like it was specifically their eyes in these close-up shots that i couldn't stop thinking about—

something about this was just delightful and so so so compelling to me, and at first i wasn't sure what it was, because yes their eyes are drawn in very unique ways but it's not like these design choices (glitter gem eyes and dead inside eyes) are ones i've never seen before

but i think it's the fact that they're shown side by side that really made them so striking to me, kind of like showing the two faces of the hero industry at once

anyway. still chewing on this very much. the character designs are all just so good to me

[iamindifferenttolamp]

Matt: "One of these days you're gonna wake up, put a shirt on, and the universe is just gonna fold in on you. I'm excited."

[leonardalphachurch]

epsilon canonically doing millions of simulations mean that you can make a genuine argument that all rvb fanfiction has been made by epsilon in canon