I'm researching life from first principles — rigorously, following causality and mechanism.

The key insight: Life operates on chemistry by filtering inputs against an internal reference to continue existing.

When life ends, the chemistry stays the same. What changes is the behavior of that chemistry — it stops filtering inputs and follows the forces of physics.

This led me to reflect on how we live today. The fewer constraints applied to you, the more free you are.

Life is always under constraints. In every breath we take. In every second of existence. Life inside us expends enormous energy just to withstand the constraints applied to it — to resist entropy, to filter inputs, to continue. Existence itself demands energy.

Now add on top of that baseline the constraints you impose on yourself: Nationality. Religion. Identity. Social conformity. Loans. Status.

Where does this lead you? With what energy do you pay for this existence? How does it benefit you? Does it contribute to your self-continuation? Does it promote your existence in any measurable way?

How free are you?
Are you free?