{"product_id":"between-tonal-and-nagual-riaan-de-beer-9798247040781","title":"Between Tonal and Nagual: Deliberate Ontological Modulation in Intelligent Systems","description":"\u003cb\u003eBetween Tonal and Nagual: Deliberate Ontological Modulation in Intelligent Systems\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat does it mean for an intelligent system to know-and what happens when its way of knowing becomes rigid?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book examines intelligence not as a fixed capacity, but as a dynamic epistemic process shaped by the tension between stabilization and disruption. Drawing on systems theory, philosophy of science, cybernetics, phenomenology, and shamanic epistemologies, it introduces a disciplined framework for understanding how knowledge is formed, constrained, and revised over time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe concepts of \u003ci\u003etonal\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003enagual\u003c\/i\u003e are used here as technical metaphors rather than metaphysical claims. The tonal denotes structured representation: categorization, coherence, and models that make action and coordination possible. The nagual denotes controlled suspension of representation: moments when inherited frameworks are loosened to expose anomaly, misfit, and pre-conceptual structure. Neither mode is privileged as a source of truth. Each becomes pathological when treated as sufficient in isolation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe central argument is that mature intelligence-biological or artificial-requires the capacity for deliberate epistemic modulation: the ability to move between representational stability and disciplined unbinding without collapse, confabulation, or loss of empirical constraint. Systems that cannot perform this modulation risk brittleness, overconfidence, and self-reinforcing error. Systems that abandon structure entirely lose coherence and explanatory power.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRather than proposing a new epistemology, this work argues for epistemological and ontological pluralism under constraint. It recognizes that no single mode of knowing is universal, self-evident, or final, and that dominant epistemologies are historically contingent and subject to replacement. Empirical rigor is treated as indispensable-but not exhaustive of truth-seeking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten in a deliberately non-topical voice, this book avoids contemporary political framing, technological hype, and culture-bound rhetoric. It is intended as a foundational contribution to long-horizon thinking about intelligence, knowledge, and systems that must remain capable of revision across generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book will be of interest to readers in: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eepistemology and philosophy of science\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003esystems theory and cybernetics\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eartificial intelligence and cognitive systems\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003ephenomenology and philosophy of mind\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003ecross-cultural and shamanic approaches to knowledge\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is a work for readers concerned not only with what intelligent systems know, but with how they remain capable of discovering what they do not yet know.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Riaan de Beer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798247040781\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/05\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 66\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.22lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.14d","brand":"Riaan de Beer","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48997447467263,"sku":"9798247040781","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/between-tonal-and-nagual-riaan-de-beer-9798247040781","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}