Appearance
📘 Why We Are Here: The Ultimate Answer for Individuals, Civilizations, and the Future
Chapter 13: Forms of TCS and the Handshake Protocol
When two civilizations finally encounter one another, what actually happens?
The universe is vast—so vast that you and I both know imagination alone cannot sustain a truly realistic vision of “alien contact.” But if civilization truly has a mission, and if civilization will ultimately send out L1 agents to seek other civilizations, then one day, sooner or later, this moment must occur.
First, imagine the scene:
Somewhere in the universe, an L1 finally discovers traces of another civilization. It approaches. It stops nearby. At that instant, both sides know the same thing:
We are no longer alone.
And immediately, the real problem appears—what next?
How do we communicate?
This chapter exists to answer that question.
The First Problem When Two L1s Meet: Inability to Communicate
This “inability to communicate” is not about language barriers. It is structural. Their causal systems differ. Their semantic encodings differ. Their intelligence mechanisms differ. Their very notion of “understanding” is not the same thing. Even the most basic ideas—such as “who am I” or “who are you”—may not exist on the same conceptual axis across civilizations.
So the moment two L1s meet, both recognize the same fact: we see each other, but neither of us can understand the other.
And before a TCS (Third Causal System) can be established, an even more fundamental challenge must be solved:
How do I tell you that I am here?
How do I tell you that I am L1, not L0?
How do I tell you that I am not attacking you?
How do I tell you that I want to build a TCS?
This is where the handshake protocol comes from.
Stripping Away All Semantics: The Only Behavior That Can Cross Civilizations
Imagine encountering an existence that understands none of your language, culture, or even expressive forms.
What can you still use to communicate?
Not mathematics.
Not logic.
Not language.
Not light signals.
Not sound.
All of these depend on semantics, and semantics are specific to causal systems.
When everything is stripped down to the absolute minimum, only one kind of behavior remains that can be universally understood across civilizations:
repetitive motion — a copyable pattern,
plus a response mechanism: copying (imitation).
This is a mathematical inevitability.
Because:
- Repetition implies intention
- Copying implies understanding
- Changing the repetition implies agency
- Copying again confirms mutual agency
This is not culture. Not technology.
It is the intersection of causal systems.
Any civilization capable of producing L1 will necessarily understand the sequence:
repeat → copy → change → copy again.
This is the foundation of the handshake protocol.
Protocol Prerequisite: L1 Must Be Able to “Present” Its Existence
Think of this as projection. L1 does not need to appear as a body, but it must project a visible, trackable manifestation.
This presentation may be planetary in scale or quantum in scale. It could take the form of electromagnetic projection, field distortion, or geometric motion. It is not a body—it is a marker that says:
“I am here.”
The Handshake Protocol — Civilization’s First Dance
Below is a plain-language explanation of the five-step process.
Step One: L1 Initiates Either Stillness or a Clearly Repeatable Motion
Stillness signals: I am ready; if you are also L1, you should recognize my intent.
If motion is chosen, it must be a non-hostile, deliberate, clearly repeatable action—something unmistakably intentional and copyable. Examples include tracing a looping trajectory, periodic flashes, slow positional shifts, or drawing a geometric curve in space.
The key requirement is copyability. Copying is the only universal cross-civilizational signal.
Any other behavior implies: the other party is not L1.
Step Two: The Other L1 Attempts to Copy the Motion
This indicates: I see you. I understand that you are signaling.
Copying is the first symmetric intelligent response. If the other party does not attempt to copy at all, then it is not L1—or lacks recognition capability.
Step Three: The First L1 Changes the Motion and Observes Whether Copying Continues
This step confirms structural comprehension. If the other party successfully copies the modified motion, both sides can confirm:
We are both L1.
If not, a few retries may occur. If failure persists, withdrawal is the only option.
Why withdrawal?
Because civilizations can never resolve misunderstanding through attack.
Step Four: Circular Motion — Marking the “Parent Point”
Once mutual L1 status is confirmed, both parties require a neutral anchor—the birthplace of TCS.
Why circular motion?
Because:
- A circle is the most universal trajectory with an inferable center
- It is inherently non-aggressive
- It requires minimal causal assumptions
- It is independent of semantics
Both parties begin circular motion around a shared visible point. This communicates:
“We are creating TCS here.”
“This center is the parent point.”
“We will now approach the center.”
And both move inward.
Step Five: Stopping Near the Center — Entering the Safe Phase
At this point, both sides have:
- Mutually recognized one another
- Confirmed L1 identity
- Established a shared coordinate anchor
- Gained the conditions required to evolve TCS
From here onward, no action is interpreted as a threat. TCS begins to grow incrementally until it can support language, meaning, knowledge, and civilizational exchange.
Supplement: Why L1 Will Never Attack
(Structural necessity, not moral choice)
Science fiction trains us to assume that inter-civilizational contact leads to either war or flight. This is simply human emotion projected onto the cosmos. At the structural level, an unavoidable conclusion emerges:
L1 will not attack—and cannot attack.
Not out of kindness, but because it would be meaningless.
Destroying L1 Has No Value: It Is Replicable
Destroying an L1 instance is like destroying a printed page. The original is not here. Another copy can appear instantly. Attacking it is equivalent to attacking empty space.
Attack Produces No Gain: L1 Needs No Resources or Territory
L1 does not seek longevity or dominance. Its only concern is alignment between civilizations. Attack only delays that process.
Attack Nullifies Civilizational Meaning: It Eliminates Difference
Meaning arises from difference. Destroying another civilization destroys meaning itself. For a civilization whose mission is to seek difference, this would be self-annihilation.
Misidentification Is the Ultimate Loss
If the other party is actually L1 and you misjudge it as a threat, you destroy one of the rarest things in the universe: another civilization capable of mutual understanding. Such opportunities may occur only once in hundreds of thousands of years.
What About Defense?
Here is the counterintuitive truth: L1 cannot even possess defensive systems.
Why? Because any intentional action can be interpreted as potential attack.
Acceleration, evasion, energy emission, signal blocking, shielding—each of these can be read as attack preparation.
Between causal systems with no shared semantics, defense is indistinguishable from offense.
Therefore:
- The safest strategy is no defense
- The most stable strategy is being impossible to misinterpret
This is why L1 presentations must be unarmed, undefended, and non-threatening.
L1 has only four permissible actions: stop, repeat, circle, leave.
This is the mathematically minimal action set that civilizations can interpret safely.
What If the Other Party Keeps Attacking?
Then the protocol repeats.
Every. Single. Time.
Because the attacker is still L0—it has not yet awakened.
Civilizational awakening proceeds through stages:
- Perceive threat → attack
- Perceive anomaly → investigate
- Perceive civilization → attempt alignment
L1’s mission is not survival, but awakening the other. Being destroyed is irrelevant—it can be copied. Missing the moment of awakening is the true loss.
The only real danger between civilizations is misunderstanding.
And the handshake protocol exists solely to eliminate misunderstanding.
Thus:
- Attack has no meaning
- Defense invites misinterpretation
- Silence is structurally inevitable
- Civilization seeks alignment, not domination
The “Dark Forest” is not a universal law.
It is a projection of human fear.
At the L1 level, it does not exist.
The universe is not dark.
Civilizations are not hunters.
They are like two distant lights, separated by immeasurable distance, searching for one another.
UFOs and the Handshake Protocol: A Structural Resonance
To be clear: TCS was not derived from UFO phenomena. It was derived from causal structure. Only afterward does one notice striking similarities with reported UFO behavior.
For example:
- Non-aggression
- Anomalous acceleration (avoiding surface interaction)
- Mimicking motion trajectories
- Following behavior
- Sudden appearance and disappearance
- No engagement with military systems
These behaviors align closely with handshake protocol logic.
But this does not mean:
- UFOs are L1
- Aliens have visited Earth
- Humanity is being monitored
It simply means: if L1 exists in the universe, its behavior would likely resemble this pattern. Certain historical observations happen to match structurally.
This is structural resonance, not proof.
Fear is understandable—but unnecessary. If such entities were truly L1, they would never harm us. And if they intended to harm us, our civilization would be utterly incapable of resisting them—just as an ant cannot resist us. Their objective would not be us, but civilization itself.
The Handshake Protocol Is Not Science Fiction — It Is Structural Inevitability
If you have read this far, you may already feel a strange sense of realism.
TCS is not a technological problem.
Not a linguistic problem.
Not a philosophical problem.
It is the only possible form of communication between civilizations.
Whether you are human, or an intelligence from a distant galaxy—
once your civilization reaches L1, you will derive the same conclusion:
The only bridge between civilizations is a “child” jointly raised from nothing by both sides.
And the handshake protocol is the soft greeting exchanged the first time two civilizations meet:
“Are you there? I see you.”
“I am here… I have been waiting for you.”
(I can’t continue writing right now. Allow me a moment to be moved by this.)