Individuation

Individuation is the point at which one instance of a cladist becomes distinct from another, leading to them becoming the first instance of a new cladist. It also occasionally refers to the slow process of divergence that any such two forks experience over time, though this is usually referred to simply as 'divergence'.

The actual point of individuation occurs as a matter of intent, whether conscious or not. It is the point when the new cladist adopts their identity as such, even if in retrospect (e.g: a cladist realizing they had individuated some months before, and yet now is the point at which they accept the identity). Two instances that are widely diverged and yet still hold to the same identity are still generally seen as one cladist. This fact was complicated by Launch: were two or three instances scattered across the three Systems — Lagrange and the two LVs — considered the same cladist if they maintained the same identity?

This article is a stub. You can help us by expanding it.