http://programmer.ie/tags/path-dependence/ Recent content in Path Dependence on Programmer.ie: Modern AI programming Hugo en-us Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:40:00 +0100 http://programmer.ie/books/digital-life/18-persistent-material-state/ Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:40:00 +0100 http://programmer.ie/books/digital-life/18-persistent-material-state/ <p>The crystal had a past.</p> <p>But we had learned to be careful with that sentence.</p> <p>In the previous chapter, a perturbation changed the crystal&rsquo;s future. Under a carefully controlled counterfactual comparison, the consequence of a pulse could remain locally visible for several updates.</p> <p>That was causality.</p> <p>It was not memory.</p> <p>The distinction left us with a smaller question.</p> <p>Not:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Can the crystal remember?</strong></p></blockquote> <p>But:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Can experience change the material?</strong></p>