Bandwidth as Fundamental Constant: The 7±2 Limit in Call of Asheron
From Folk Wisdom to Physical Constant
In cognitive psychology, the “7±2” rule is famous: human working memory can hold roughly seven items (plus or minus two) simultaneously. It’s treated as a fact about neural architecture—how our brains happen to be built, constrained by biological evolution and physical implementation.
The Call of Asheron proposes something far stranger: bandwidth limitations are fundamental constants governing consciousness-reality interaction, not merely implementation details of biological cognition.
The Bandwidth Sufficiency Principle
When Duulak studies ancient Empyrean texts, he discovers they had “mathematized bandwidth constraints”:
“They had mathematized bandwidth constraints, treating the 7±2 limit of working memory not as folk wisdom but as a fundamental constant governing consciousness-reality interaction. One fragmentary theorem—Celeste had translated it as the ‘Bandwidth Sufficiency Principle’—suggested that any finite consciousness would hit limits in perceiving what they called ‘The Mechanism.’”
This is a radical claim. It’s saying that 7±2 isn’t:
- A quirk of human neurology
- An evolutionary adaptation to specific environmental pressures
- A consequence of brain size or computational limitations
- Something that more advanced minds could overcome through better design
Instead, it’s a fundamental constraint on how consciousness can engage with quality-space.
Consciousness Without Substrate
The novel tests this claim during Duulak’s death-resurrection cycles through the lifestone network. Between death and resurrection, he experiences something impossible:
“That space between ending and resuming where consciousness existed without substrate. Not void—that was the wrong word. A quality-space that had no physical correlate, where the what-it’s-like of experience persisted despite nothing experiencing it.”
In this state, freed from neural constraints, what happens to bandwidth limitations?
“Without bandwidth limits imposed by neural substrate, he could hold configurations that physical brains couldn’t process. The 7±2 limitation vanished when consciousness had no wetware bottleneck.”
So the 7±2 limit can be transcended—but only when consciousness exists without physical embodiment, in pure quality-space. This suggests something profound about the relationship between bandwidth, embodiment, and reality-engagement.
What Bandwidth Actually Limits
If bandwidth isn’t about neural capacity, what is it about? The novel suggests it’s about phenomenal complexity—how many independent qualitative features consciousness can simultaneously hold and actively manipulate.
Consider Duulak’s expanded perception without substrate:
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