(Read the first chapter further down this page.)
Impansion: The Shape of Complexity is a work that questions the very foundations of reality to make human experience more coherent and complete.
For instance, we usually think that material bodies like ours contain the atoms they’re made of. But what if atoms actually contain us? While our material experience wouldn’t change, our most precious beliefs would be turned on its head.
The book dives into this provocative question. It offers a fresh set of metaphors to help us reinterpret our understanding of the cosmos, from black holes to the mistery of consciousness.
What is impansion? A glimpse into the heart of the book
Impansion, as it unfolds in this work, is the paradoxical idea that the most complex can reside “within” the simplest. It proposes that reality, at its core, isn’t about size or duration. Instead, it makes more sense to picture it “expanding infinitely inward.”
To articulate this vision, the book introduces and develops a set of key metaphors:
- Impansion itself: the central concept that flips our ideas of inside and outside.
- The quasar metaphor, which redefines our notion of time.
- Harmonic complexity: a tool for understanding how we build concepts like distance, duration, motion, and matter from a purely relational reality.
- The thread metaphor, which reimagines the nature of light and explains how we subjectively create our physical world.
Why this book? Challenging the “grand metaphors”
Impansion: The Shape of Complexity takes a critical look at the dominant Big Bang cosmology, where abstract ideas are often treated like objects in a giant container. While these metaphors have fueled immense scientific progress, they also harbor inconsistencies and deep conceptual issues.
This book doesn’t aim to discard current scientific knowledge. Instead, it offers a fresh perspective that can help “dissolve” some of science’s major paradoxes. It allows for a reinterpretation where our physical experience subjectively emerges from a sizeless and timeless background.
The structure of the book
The book is designed to guide you step-by-step through a fascinating conceptual territory. It starts by laying out new metaphors, then puts them to the test in fields as diverse as cosmology, psychology, and biology.
This journey creates a stimulating interplay, alternating traditional perspectives with its unique impanded vision. Finally, the book reflects on the nature of knowledge and science, and the role metaphors play in how we understand reality.
Below, you can check out the complete Table of Contents. Click to expand:
Impansion: The Shape of Complexity – Table of Contents
Introduction: The house in fire
(No subchapters here)
Ch. 1 – The impansion metaphor
- 1.1 – The biggest is inside
- 1.2 – The quasar metaphor
Ch. 2 – Science is about metaphors
- 2.1 – Spacetime metaphors
- 2.2 – From axioms to the set concept
Ch. 3 – The harmonic metaphor
- 3.1 – The second
- 3.2 – Mathematical harmony analysis
- 3.3 – Why harmony?
- 3.4 – Impanded planetary systems (I)
- 3.5 – Relative complexity
- 3.6 – The impanded Tonnetz
- 3.7 – The impanded fractal
- 3.8 – Overlapped epochs
- 3.9 – Timeless evolution (I)
Ch. 4 – Playing impanders (I) Cosmology
- 4.1 – Impanded galaxies
- 4.2 – Black holes
- 4.3 – Impanded planetary systems (II)
- 4.4 – Impanded Earth
- 4.5 – Milkomeda
- 4.6 – Impanded expansion
- 4.7 – Impanded space travel
- 4.8 – An intermingled multiverse
- 4.9 – And yet it moves!
Ch. 5 – A metaphor for light
- 5.1 – If you were light
- 5.2 – Antigalaxies
- 5.3 – The thread metaphor
Ch. 6 – Playing impanders (II) Psychology
- 6.1 – Why psychology?
- 6.2 – Switching roles (I)
- 6.3 – Impanded distance
- 6.4 – Apparent is enough
- 6.5 – Impanded motion
- 6.6 – Impanded direction
- 6.7 – Impanded verticality
- 6.8 – The impossible machine (I)
- 6.9 – Impanded duration
- 6.10 – Impanded bodies
- 6.11 – The impossible machine (II)
- 6.12 – Switching roles (II)
Ch. 7 – Playing impanders (III) Evolution
- 7.1 – Impanded matter
- 7.2 – Impanded forces
- 7.3 – Timeless evolution (II)
- 7.4 – Impanded Darwinism
- 7.5 – Timeless evolution (III)
- 7.6 – Biological Relativity
- 7.7 – Impanded histories
- 7.8 – Impanded languages
Ch. 8 – A new beginning
- 8.1 – Impanded metaphors
- 8.2 – Fleshlike philosophy
- 8.3 – Impanded science
- 8.4 – My return home
Who is this book for?
This work is for curious minds, those bold enough to question the most ingrained assumptions and who enjoy intellectual exploration at the frontiers of science and philosophy.
If you’re interested in new cosmological perspectives, the enigmas of consciousness, complexity theories, or simply looking for a radically new way to see the world, you’ll find a stimulating challenge here.
As the book itself notes, while prior knowledge in various fields can be helpful, the main requirement is imagination.
A glimpse of the journey: The introductory chapter
Here’s a link to the complete introductory chapter: “The House in Fire.” This introduction lays the groundwork for the core problem and presents the initial metaphor in a vivid, personal way:
Access the manuscript and share your perspective
The complete manuscript of Impansion has been self-edited in Word and PDF format, designed for easy review and comfortable reading.
If you’re genuinely interested in exploring the entire book after reading this introduction, I’d be delighted to share it with you. Your thoughtful reading and feedback would be incredibly valuable and could be the definitive push to invest in professional editing.
To request a copy, please send me the following form with a brief note about your interest.
Join the adventure
The ideas in this book are the starting point for other articles and essays where you can join the conversation with your own reflections, questions, and critiques.
And if you’re looking for other ways to dive deeper into the impansion idea:
- Discover the Impansion video series.
- Meet the Impanders, the main characters of a new fiction series.