EMO-64: The Art of Changing States
An ancient pattern of six lines opens a modern question: how do we describe a system that keeps changing?
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Six lines can hold a surprising amount of possibility. Make each line solid or broken and you have 64 combinations—the hexagrams of the I Ching, or Book of Changes.
For EMO-64, that is an invitation to think about change. How do we describe a situation clearly enough to notice when it becomes something else? The historical inspiration is fascinating; the engineering still has to earn its evidence.
An old question, a new setting
The I Ching is an ancient Chinese text associated with divination and philosophical interpretations of change. Michael Harrington’s 2019 Yale University Press essay discusses its use in Confucian thinking about tensions, risks and opportunities in statecraft.
That history can inspire questions about decision-making. It does not demonstrate that hexagrams predict technical failures or future events. EMO-64 is exploring an architecture, not offering an oracle.
A useful diagram has to fit the problem
The illustration shows two simple extremes: six solid lines and six broken lines. They are historical symbols, not an active EMO risk score.
A technical system may need more than two conditions. A source can be working, missing, uncertain or contradictory. If a neat diagram hides those differences, the diagram needs another draft—not the world.
From a plan to an observation
At Campbell House, a rental request described an intended setup; soundcheck revealed the actual one. Recovering a signal path meant comparing those states and checking the result.
That is the practical connection to MMG’s research and production work. EMO’s loop asks what was observed, what changed, who may act, and how the outcome will be verified. A state description should help answer those questions, not merely look elegant.
What would make the idea useful?
A small trial could give reviewers the same troubleshooting cases in two formats: ordinary notes and a structured record of states and transitions. Does either help them find missing evidence or choose a better next check? Include failures and compare the results.
The Tenth Man article adds another question: what if our description is wrong? One idea gives the situation a frame; the other asks us to inspect the frame. Both remain research proposals, with evidence still to be gathered.