The Open Machine

A finite system closed to its surroundings is eventually periodic: once its transient decays, it originates nothing it has not already produced. Sustained novelty therefore requires an open channel, and the rate at which novelty can enter is bounded by that channel's capacity.

The instrument distinguishes transmission — the information a system conducts from outside — from origination — the information it generates itself — and tests each against a null hypothesis that is permitted to fail. The film presents the argument in sequence; the essay establishes it formally.