Harmonic Information Theory

scroll
"In the beginning, there was one thing. So the thing stretched. And as it stretched, it wiggled. And when it wiggled, it understood it was one no more, because there was it and the wiggle. So she wiggled more. And that's all. Excellent."
— Nicolás Echaniz

The ratio as the minimal unit of information

The proportional relationship between frequencies is the minimal carrier of information. Harmonic Information Theory follows that intuition across computation, perception, and orientation, tracing how ratio-structured relations shape learned representation in Phideus and harmonic conditions of experience in Beacon. The result is a research program in which harmonic structure becomes experimentally legible across physical, biological, affective, and symbolic domains.

Artefact Harmonic Beacon ƒ×n

"Making the interference pattern of the subtle audible in the material realm."

The experiential probe of HIT — the human leg of the research. Where Phideus works inside computation, the Beacon works inside the room and inside the body. A continuously excited string holds open the full natural harmonic series as a living acoustic field: not a drone, but a sustained interference pattern that listeners enter. People report melodies, voices, textures not explicitly in the source — the Beacon takes those reports seriously as evidence. In therapeutic settings it runs alongside PMP, opening new conditions for symbolic and affective work. Available as a 24/7 live stream.

harmonicbeacon.com →
Research instrument Phideus φ · AI

"Do frequency ratios constitute a universal informational language?"

An AI research program testing whether harmonic frequency ratios transfer across sensory modalities. Phideus asks whether shared ratio structure between domains enables cross-modal recognition — independently of timbre, instrument, or absolute pitch. Cross-modality is the testbed, not the objective. Named after Phidias, the Greek sculptor whose mastery of proportion defined classical form.

phideus.net →
Print edition
Available now

Download the book

The book is available in three complementary formats. The PDF is the official bibliographic edition. The Markdown is designed for AI reading. The LaTeX is the full editorial source.

PDF

Official preliminary edition of the book with full typographic design. The ISBN, when assigned, will correspond exclusively to this format.

ISBN pending
Markdown

Structured text version optimized for automated reading, segmented queries, and semantic navigation by LLMs. Not the bibliographic edition with ISBN.

Optimized for LLMs
LaTeX

Editorial source of the book. Contains exclusively the typographic source and editorial materials. Not the general repository of the research ecosystem.

Source code
Cover

Print edition

Interested in a print edition? Write to us for information on availability and pre-orders.

Enquire →
Interactive map · DeepWiki · harmonic-information-theory · Phideus
3 : 2
Mariano Fernández Méndez
Author

Mariano Fernández Méndez

Mariano Fernández Méndez is a researcher, writer, and developer with a transdisciplinary background spanning artificial intelligence, electronics, acoustics, information theory, semiotics, and the social study of technology. Working across these fields, he has developed an approach oriented toward connecting technical, conceptual, and epistemological questions within a shared horizon. A member of Asociación Civil AlterMundi, he was responsible for the final compilation, writing, and conceptual architecture of this work.

Within HIT, his contribution centers on organizing a transdisciplinary investigation into harmonic relations and their significance for understanding information, structure, and relation across diverse systems.

mariano@altermundi.net
5 : 4
Nicolás Echaniz
Author

Nicolás Echaniz

Nicolás Echaniz is an author of the book, co-founder of Asociación Civil AlterMundi, a musician, and a researcher in the field of natural harmony. His work also spans community networks, free software, and sovereign technologies. He leads the conceptual and technical direction of the HIT project and created the harmonic Beacon, a device that brings the theory's hypotheses into the realm of physical vibration.

He is the author of the founding premise: "In the beginning, there was one thing. The thing stretched. And as it stretched, it wiggled." This formulation captures a central intuition of HIT: the passage from unity to movement as a generative act of information. His work brings together music, technology, and artificial intelligence to explore the harmonic structure of sound and meaning.

nicoechaniz@altermundi.net

Developed within the institutional framework of

AlterMundi

Research & development team
Anabella Scigliano Physiology · biosignals · QA GitHub →
Federico Bonino Signal acquisition · acoustics GitHub →
Julián De La Reta Psychology · PMP · archetypes
Martín Fernández Méndez Industrial design · instruments
Pablo Bustos Software · electronics · RF GitHub →
Saira Asua Software development · systems GitHub →
Santiago Cetrán QA · monitoring · observability GitHub →
Sofía Campagnoli Researcher

Get in touch

Questions about the book, contributions, collaborations, media, or print editions — write to us at:

editorial@altermundi.net
Mariano Fernández Méndez
mariano@altermundi.net
Nicolás Echaniz
nicoechaniz@altermundi.net

Developed within the institutional framework of Asociación Civil AlterMundi

Repositories

All book material and the research ecosystem are public:

AlterMundi/harmonic-information-theory → AlterMundi/Phideus →

About AlterMundi

Asociación Civil AlterMundi is a non-profit organization dedicated to research and development of free technologies, community networks, and sovereign digital tools. HIT is one of its active research programs.

altermundi.net →

ISBN and editorial status

The work circulates as the official preliminary edition. The ISBN is pending and will correspond exclusively to the official PDF edition when assigned.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

This work may be shared, copied, redistributed, and adapted, even for commercial purposes, as long as appropriate credit is given, the license is linked, and changes are indicated. No endorsement by the authors or Asociación Civil AlterMundi should be implied.

Share freely
Commercial use
Adapt and remix
Attribution required
Indicate changes

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/