Affordance, as we have seen, is the differential of readiness: the relational configuration through which inclination meets ability.
But this differential is never uniform. The field is never homogeneous.
It is structured by gradients of offering — local variations in readiness that guide the emergence of possibility without imposing fixed form.
1. Gradients as Relational Asymmetry
A gradient is a measure of relational asymmetry — the local tilt in the topology of readiness.
It is not a force acting upon matter or meaning, but a pattern of disposition: a differential in openness and capacity that defines the direction in which potential naturally unfolds.
These gradients are what orient becoming.
They are not divisions of the field into discrete objects or regions; rather, they are modal contours — subtle differentiations that make some outcomes more likely without prescribing them.
Every local actualisation — a photon transition, a cell binding, a meaningful utterance — is a point along such a gradient.
The world unfolds not by obeying laws imposed externally, but by following the curvature of its own readiness.
2. From Physical to Semiotic Gradients
In classical physics, gradients were thought of as differences in energy that drive motion.
Here, they are differences in readiness, and the “motion” they generate is relational: the natural unfolding of possibility within the field.
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Physical gradients: A photon moves along a gradient defined by field inclinations, not by external cause.
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Biological gradients: A cell binds where complementary molecular readiness aligns.
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Semiotic gradients: Meaning propagates along the field’s differential affordances, as systems of construal stabilise and interact.
Across domains, the same principle holds: gradients are topological, not substantial; they shape what can happen without prescribing any particular event.
3. Field-Level Differentiation
Gradients also explain how the field self-organizes: regions of higher or lower readiness create local attractors for actualisation.
These attractors are not deterministic laws but emergent configurations: patterns of relational resonance that allow the field to sustain its own offering.
The field is thus a continuous landscape of possibility, differentiated by gradients that guide but do not constrain.
It is a topology of becoming, where each point is locally shaped by inclination, ability, and the surrounding curvature of readiness.
4. Semiotic Implications: Affordance of Meaning
In semiotic systems, gradients of offering explain how meaning emerges, propagates, and stabilises.
Interpretation is guided by readiness contours: the degrees to which a semiotic system affords uptake, alignment, and extension.
Registers, genres, and symbolic structures are modes of gradient organisation — differentiated patterns of semiotic readiness that preserve and transmit possibility across communicative events.
This shows that semiotic systems are nested networks of affordances: not imposed codes, but relational topologies of openness and constraint.
5. Toward the Field of Affordance
Gradients are the building blocks of the affordance field itself.
They define its local geometry, its peaks and valleys of readiness, and the directional flows of possibility.
The next step is to consider the field as a whole: how gradients interlock to produce sustained, structured offerings — the very substrate of relational becoming.
Next: The Affordance Field: Topology of Mutual Readiness
We will see how gradients cohere into patterns, how the field itself is the affordance, and how local actualisations emerge within this topology.
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