How to read a system
The system is never passive. Before entering or moving within any system, you need to read it accurately — its components, its hidden rules, its leverage points, and where it sits in the larger hierarchy of systems above it.
In CAS theory, systems have four properties that determine agent behavior: energy resources (what's available), selection pressure (what gets rewarded or expelled), ground rules (stated and unstated), and feedback loops (how quickly the system corrects). Misreading any one of these leads to misplaced strategy.
System components
Energy resources
What the system makes available. Scarcity determines competition intensity; abundance opens cooperation windows.
Selection pressure
Forces that determine which agents persist and which are expelled. Often invisible until you fail the test.
Ground rules
Formal and informal rules governing the game. Most consequential rules are unstated — discovered through play, not documentation.
Feedback loops
Input → process → output → correction. Loop speed determines how quickly agents can adapt before the system acts on them.
Reading the hidden rules
Every system has stated rules and real rules. The gap between them is where most agents lose. Real rules are discovered through observation, not orientation.
The system hierarchy
Systems are nested. Each layer constrains the one below it. Knowing which layer you're operating in determines what is actually changeable and at what cost.
Most agents overestimate their ability to change upper layers and underestimate their ability to shape lower ones. Identify which layer your current game is actually in — then focus energy there, not two layers above it.