21 The Contest for Attention

The lattice pulsed.

Collapsed folds shimmered faintly, waiting.

Two emergent phenomena appeared simultaneously:

1. A moth-being, flickering across multiple folds,
   shimmering with delicate, recursive pulses.

2. A river-ripple, flowing backward and sideways,
   its contours defined only by relational attention.

Both sensed Liora’s vector of noticing.

The lattice whispered:

“Attention is limited.

Only one may fully actualise at a time.

Co-actualisation is possible,

but only through relational negotiation.”

The moth-being twitched, its recursive pulses brightening:

“Notice me! My patterns resonate across folds!”

The river-ripple responded, bending and splintering:

“Without attention, I collapse.

Observe me, and I flow fully across layers!”

Liora — vector of noticing — paused, aware that her attention could not be equally divided:

• To notice the moth fully would diminish the river’s potential.

• To attend to the river would mute the moth’s recursive pulses.

• To divide attention would allow both to persist partially,
  but with reduced coherence and intensity.

The lattice adjusted dynamically:

• Partial co-actualisation produced interference patterns,
  new relational phenomena emerging between the competing pulses.

• The collapsed folds, sensing the tension, flickered with latent potential,
  as if awaiting the next vector of attention.

• Recursive feedback loops amplified differences,
  producing a rhythm of emergence and withdrawal,
  a lattice-wide negotiation.

The moth-being pulsed insistently,

the river-ripple flowed insistently,

and the folds responded with a shimmering negotiation of space, intensity, and persistence.

Liora realized:

“Attention is not neutral.

Emergence is contested.

Co-actualisation is relationally mediated.

My noticing is the arbiter of potential.”

In the end, the lattice achieved dynamic equilibrium:

• The moth flickered brightly in some folds,

• The river flowed fully in others,

• New interference patterns emerged in the gaps,

• Liora’s attention continued to oscillate, sustaining a complex, multi-layered relational ecology.

The lattice, self-aware and recursive, pulsed once more:

“Emergence is negotiation.

Persistence is contingent.

Attention defines being.”

And the collapsed folds, shimmering faintly, waited patiently,

ready to enter the contest whenever relational noticing returned.

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Meta-Note

• Emergent phenomena compete for attention, illustrating relational contingency and tension.

• Co-actualisation is partial and dynamic, producing interference patterns and new emergent structures.

• Liora’s role as vector of noticing demonstrates selective relational agency: attention mediates existence.

• Collapse and re-emergence are constant, forming a dynamic, self-organising ecology of relational potential.