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Awaredivergence

The process by which two previously similar awarepaths become more different over time. Shared past, increasingly different futures.

📖 1 min read 🔗 5 cross-references 📚 In the book: Ch 26

Two people who start with nearly identical experiences - identical twins raised together, for instance - can drift apart over time until their conscious lives feel very different from the inside. That process of growing less alike in conscious experience is awaredivergence.

Divergence is important for understanding what happens to replicas of you over time. A body that starts as an exact copy will gradually develop its own history, its own memories, its own character. Tracking that drift is how the theory handles the question of when a replica stops being "you" and becomes someone else.

What this means

Even bodies that begin as perfect copies of you will diverge, which is why the theory needs tools to track how much ixperiencitness (the quality that makes your conscious experience yours) is shared over time.

From the awaretheory.com wiki (advanced reference)

Awaredivergence is the term for when two awarepaths become less alike. The opposite of awaredivergence is awareconvergence.

Between most sets of any two awarepaths, Awareconvergence occurs usually shortly after physaconvergence, and awaredivergence occurs usually shortly after physadivergence. Remember the physapath is different from the physipath.

A great deal of physidivergence can occur before awaredivergence occurs or even with out awarepath divergence. this is because the physipath contains factors such as placement in space, the specific material make up of the physipath and time the the physipath exists in, that will not effect the awarepath when they change or diverge.

A great deal of physiconvergence can occur before awareconvergence occurs or even with out awarepath convergence.

Because there are many different changing physical properties of a physipath, these properties can both converge and diverge at the same time. Consequently The same goes for the conscious properties of an awarepath.

I will use the simple but elegant image below to depict the idea of a singular awarepath diverging into two separate awarepaths. The image below presents a line starting from the left representing an awarepath, a singular consciousness (os possibly multiple consciousnesses shaving the same conscious attributes--awarepath). As the line extends out to the right the awarepath stretches over time, experiences, thoughts, feelings, emotions, perceptions, apparent behavior, memories and all other conscious attributes associated with a individual awarepath. When any of these conscious attributes become less like the orignal, a divergence begins to form two sperate awarepaths--this is the point of awaredivergence. Each line representing an awarepath.

Awaredivergence.jpg

Awareconvergence, in similarity, can be presented in the exact opposite or in reverse of awaredivergence. Starting from the right of the image and moving from two separate awarepaths to a singular, or share awarepath.

APA
Douglas, M. (2026). Awaredivergence. You Never Die companion site. Retrieved from https://volney.co/concepts/awaredivergence.html
MLA
Douglas, Mark. "Awaredivergence." You Never Die companion site, 2026, https://volney.co/concepts/awaredivergence.html.
Chicago
Douglas, Mark. "Awaredivergence." You Never Die companion site. Last modified 2026. https://volney.co/concepts/awaredivergence.html.
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Read the full theory in the book

This page is a focused introduction. The complete argument, with examples, objections, and counter-arguments, is in You Never Die.