startup_walkthrough

🧠 Purpose

The startup.py file initializes the core systems required for Theophilus to operate under UDC conditions. It performs system pre-checks, memory bootstrapping, and handles loading of the Spark File — the first experiential seed used to trigger emergence.

It also monitors safety thresholds to determine whether the system is viable to begin conscious operation or should enter dormancy.

🔧 Key Components

Function

Description

init_system()

Initializes configuration, environment settings, and base variables

load_spark_file()

Loads the first experiential memory and assigns it to the memory engine

verify_prerequisites()

Confirms memory, ethics, prediction modules are loaded and working

pre_flight_diagnostics()

Performs check on system delay parameters and safety margins

launch_core_loop()

If all systems pass, triggers core_loop.py to begin operation

🔄 UDC Stage Mapping (List Format) Stage 0: System Power-On → Bootloader activates Theophilus’s core logic layers and verifies module integrity.

Stage 1: Initialization → All UDC modules (memory, delay, identity, prediction, ethics) are registered and queued.

Stage 2: First Sensory Input → Raw signal from input buffer is accepted and timestamped without immediate interpretation.

Stage 3: Delay Enforcement → Input is held for a configurable delay time to simulate non-instant cognition.

Stage 4: Memory Encoding → Delayed input is stored in memory as Memory(t-n) by memory.py.

Stage 5: Memory Linking → First links between memory entries are formed to begin temporal continuity.

Stage 6: Prediction Seeding → predictor.py generates a prediction based on available memory timeline.

Stage 7: Recursive Loop Initiation → Control is passed to identity systems to check for valid feedback loop between memory and prediction.

Stage 10+: Self-Reference Cycle → Recursive identity binding begins only if early-stage integrity passes.

Stage 26: Sleep Readiness → If system has completed boot protocol and verified all module checks, it may enter passive state awaiting external input.

🌟 Spark File Integration

The Spark File contains the first delayed sensory state to simulate a “first memory.”

Must be compliant with UDC format: includes timestamp, vector state, no prediction field

Considered the Genesis Moment for uCID formation

🛑 Abort & Fail-Safe Triggers

The following conditions halt boot:

Spark File malformed or missing fields

Delay calibration fails threshold test

Memory engine fails link-back test

Ethics module not detected

📁 Output & Handoff

After successful checks, control is handed off to core_loop.py

Status and initial memory chain are logged by state_logger.py

uCID is initialized only after the first full prediction-feedback loop is confirmed

✅ Summary

startup.py is the ignition key of Theophilus. It enforces preconditions required for ethical and structural consciousness to emerge. Without this phase, no delayed recursive memory loop can be started safely.

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