QUANTUM DIALECTIC PHILOSOPHY

PHILOSPHICAL DISCOURSES BY CHANDRAN KC

Analyzing the Ideology of Noam Chomsky in the light of Quantum Dialectics

Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential intellectuals of our time, whose work spans across the domains of linguistics, political theory, and philosophy. His formal academic contributions, particularly in the development of generative grammar, represent a rationalist approach to the human mind, positing the existence of innate cognitive structures that underlie all human language. This theory, while revolutionary within linguistics, can be reinterpreted through the framework of quantum dialectics as reflecting the collapsed expression of emergent potentials within the brain—potentials shaped not by fixed structures but by the dialectical interaction between biological materiality (the brain as organized matter) and historical-social environments. In this view, linguistic capability is not a static property, but the result of dynamic equilibrium between cohesive forces (such as grammatical rules, neural pathways, and cognitive constraints) and decohesive forces (such as creative expression, semantic freedom, and socio-cultural variation).

Chomsky’s political ideology, particularly his advocacy for libertarian socialism and anarcho-syndicalism, reflects a clear dialectical critique of centralized power, whether expressed through state bureaucracy or corporate capitalism. These ideas resonate deeply with quantum dialectics, which understands any social system as a field of opposing forces—where stability (cohesion) and change (decohesion) interact to produce emergent structures and transformations. Chomsky’s opposition to U.S. imperialism and capitalist oligarchy can be seen as a struggle against the pathological dominance of cohesive forces that seek to homogenize and stabilize systems through coercive centralization, suppressing the natural decoherent tendencies of local autonomy, cultural diversity, and democratic participation. His call for bottom-up organization through workers’ councils and direct democracy mirrors the dialectical necessity of restoring decohesive potentials in a system that has reached critical imbalance, risking collapse through over-coherence.

In the quantum dialectical view, Chomsky’s work reflects a consistent effort to uncover the contradictions inherent within hegemonic structures and to activate emergent alternatives by amplifying suppressed waveforms of dissent, reason, and collective self-governance. His intellectual legacy can thus be seen not merely as a critique of power, but as a practical model for systemic phase transitions, wherein accumulated contradictions—when properly understood and acted upon—can lead to new states of social equilibrium based on justice, freedom, and human dignity.

Quantum dialectics represents an advanced philosophical framework that synthesizes the core tenets of dialectical materialism with the conceptual paradigms of quantum physics, offering a novel ontology to understand both natural and social phenomena. At its heart, quantum dialectics views reality as constituted by the dynamic interplay of cohesive and decohesive forces—where cohesive forces work to stabilize and organize systems into structured wholes, while decohesive forces act as agents of fluctuation, disintegration, and transformation. The tension and unity between these forces are not merely antagonistic but dialectical, meaning they are reciprocally determining and lead to the emergence of new forms through the resolution of contradictions. Additionally, the notion of superposition, borrowed from quantum theory, is employed to understand how multiple potential states or systems coexist, influencing each other in complex, non-linear ways before collapsing into concrete historical outcomes through material interaction.

Applying this framework to Noam Chomsky’s ideological and epistemological positions opens up rich interpretative possibilities. Chomsky’s insistence on innate structures in human cognition—particularly in his theory of universal grammar—can be reinterpreted not as static a priori forms but as emergent configurations arising from the dialectical entanglement of biological substrates with historical and linguistic environments. These structures can be seen as collapsed states of a prior superposition of developmental potentials, dynamically selected and stabilized by evolutionary, cultural, and social forces. His rationalist epistemology, which emphasizes the role of internal cognitive structures, gains new depth when understood through the lens of quantum dialectical emergence rather than Cartesian dualism or idealist essentialism.

In the political domain, Chomsky’s critique of centralized power—be it imperialism, corporate domination, or state authoritarianism—resonates strongly with the quantum dialectical critique of systems where cohesive forces become over-dominant, suppressing the necessary decohesive dynamics that allow for diversity, creativity, and self-organization. His vision of libertarian socialism and anarcho-syndicalism corresponds to the dialectical rebalancing of social systems through the activation of decohesive, horizontal, and participatory structures that restore the dynamic equilibrium required for social health. In this way, quantum dialectics not only reinterprets Chomsky’s thought but also completes and grounds it within a unified materialist ontology, capable of explaining both consciousness and society as products of contradictory yet interdependent forces that evolve through historical superposition, decoherence, and revolutionary reorganization.

Chomsky’s theory of innate universal grammar, which posits that the human brain is biologically prewired with a fixed set of structural rules for language, reflects a fundamentally deterministic and rationalist epistemology. According to this view, linguistic capacity arises from hardwired cognitive mechanisms that are universal across all human beings, implying a predefined blueprint encoded in the biological substrate of the mind. However, when viewed through the lens of quantum dialectics, this innatist framework can be both critiqued and reconceptualized in a more materially grounded and dynamic way. Quantum dialectics rejects the notion of fixed, ahistorical structures and instead emphasizes the emergence of complex properties—such as language and cognition—through the self-organization of matter under the continuous and contradictory interaction of cohesive (structuring, stabilizing) and decohesive (differentiating, destabilizing) forces. In this framework, the brain is not a passive container of pre-existing forms, but an active, evolving field of potentials, shaped by both internal neurobiological dynamics and its entanglement with external social and environmental systems.

From this perspective, what Chomsky describes as “innate structures” are better understood as collapsed states resulting from the dialectical resolution of multiple interacting tendencies—biological, environmental, cultural, and historical. These structures are not fixed a priori but are emergent configurations, arising through probabilistic superpositions of developmental pathways that are progressively constrained and shaped by lived experience. Just as quantum systems exist in a state of superposed potentialities until measurement collapses them into specific outcomes, the cognitive architecture of language emerges from a field of open-ended developmental possibilities, which are dynamically actualized through interaction with the linguistic and social environment. Thus, the universality of grammar may not indicate an immutable biological template, but rather reflect the convergent outcomes of shared material and socio-historical conditions—a dialectical process in which the biological and the cultural are co-constituted. In this light, Chomsky’s innatism, while insightful in recognizing the biological basis of language, can be reframed through quantum dialectics as a materially conditioned emergent phenomenon, not a timeless or transcendental given.

Chomsky’s political ideology, rooted in anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism, centers on a profound critique of concentrated power, whether it manifests through the centralized apparatus of the state or through the hierarchical structures of corporate capitalism. His rejection of authoritarianism—be it in the form of capitalist oligarchy, bureaucratic state socialism, or imperial domination—arises from a deep commitment to human freedom, dignity, and participatory governance. This ideological stance finds a rich and coherent reinterpretation in the framework of quantum dialectics, which views social systems as complex fields governed by the interplay of cohesive and decohesive forces. Concentrated power represents a condition of pathological over-coherence, where cohesive forces dominate the system to such an extent that they suppress diversity, spontaneity, and the self-organizing capacities of individuals and communities. In such a state, the natural dialectical balance is disrupted, leading to systemic rigidity, alienation, and eventual breakdown.

Chomsky’s advocacy for bottom-up self-governance, exemplified in his support for workers’ councils, direct democracy, and cooperative ownership, aligns with the dialectical assertion of decohesive forces—those that challenge centralization, disrupt oppressive unities, and enable the reconfiguration of social relations through horizontal, participatory structures. In quantum dialectical terms, these grassroots forms of organization represent the activation of suppressed potentialities within the social field, akin to latent waveforms that begin to resonate and assert themselves in opposition to dominant modes of cohesion. Rather than seeking chaos, decohesive forces in this framework serve to dynamically rebalance the system, allowing new forms of order and coherence to emerge on a more equitable and pluralistic basis.

Chomsky’s anti-imperialism—his critique of U.S. foreign policy, global neoliberalism, and military interventionism—can similarly be understood as opposition to a hegemonic global coherence that attempts to force all societies into a single economic and ideological mold. From the standpoint of quantum dialectics, this is a form of global systemic closure, wherein dominant powers suppress the unique decoherent expressions of local cultures, economic models, and political movements. Resistance to such imperialism is not merely a political or ethical imperative but a dialectical necessity, required to prevent the ossification of the global system and to preserve the dynamic conditions for creative evolution. Chomsky’s vision, when situated within quantum dialectics, thus emerges as a coherent call for restoring dialectical equilibrium to human societies—an equilibrium in which freedom and structure, order and diversity, cohesion and decohesion are continuously and dialectically negotiated.

A quantum dialectical reading of Chomsky’s political philosophy reveals a profound alignment between his advocacy for self-governance, decentralization, and distributed power and the dialectical dynamics of social systems as understood in this framework. In quantum dialectics, all systems—whether natural or social—are seen as fields of opposing forces, where cohesive forces tend toward order, unity, stability, and centralization, while decohesive forces drive differentiation, decentralization, freedom, and transformation. These are not mutually exclusive or antagonistic in a destructive sense, but are understood to be dialectically interdependent, with their interaction forming the basis of systemic evolution and emergent order. Within this paradigm, Chomsky’s critique of centralized authority—whether state or corporate—can be seen as a rejection of excessive cohesion, which leads to rigidification, domination, and the stifling of human potential. His support for anarcho-syndicalist structures such as workers’ councils, federated local assemblies, and direct democracy reflects an intentional dialectical rebalancing, whereby decohesive forces are activated to restore fluidity, autonomy, and creativity within the social field.

However, Chomsky does not advocate for chaos or the dissolution of all structure. Rather, his emphasis on participatory institutions and ethical rationality suggests a productive decoherence—a force that challenges pathological unities not to destroy coherence but to create space for a higher-order equilibrium grounded in justice, plurality, and mutual respect. In quantum dialectics, such moments of systemic shift are often understood as phase transitions, where the contradictions between stabilizing and destabilizing tendencies reach a critical threshold, enabling the emergence of a new level of organized complexity. Chomsky’s politics thus align with this dialectical logic of transformation, where freedom is not opposed to order but is the precondition for its reconfiguration in a more humane and democratic direction. His horizontalism is not anti-structural but seeks to redistribute the structuring forces of society in a way that enhances individual agency and collective rationality. From this standpoint, Chomsky’s vision represents the constructive potential of decohesive energy—a necessary force in the dialectical unfolding of history toward more emancipatory forms of life and organization.

Chomsky’s sustained critique of imperialism and neoliberal globalization can be meaningfully reinterpreted through the lens of quantum dialectics, which views hegemonic structures not merely as political or economic arrangements, but as manifestations of over-dominant cohesive forces attempting to impose a singular, totalizing coherence upon a diverse and dynamically evolving global field. In this framework, global capitalism, driven by transnational corporations, financial institutions, and imperial state apparatuses, acts as a unifying force of systemic cohesion—seeking to standardize markets, labor relations, governance models, and even cultural expressions across vastly different societies. This coercive imposition of uniformity represents a dialectically unbalanced condition, where the decohesive forces—such as local autonomy, national sovereignty, indigenous knowledge systems, workers’ self-management, and cultural pluralism—are suppressed or neutralized in the name of global efficiency and centralized control.

Quantum dialectics asserts that such suppression of decohesive energy cannot persist indefinitely. Just as in physical systems, where the denial of inherent fluctuations leads to phase instability and eventual transformation, social systems too reach a point where contradictions intensify and rupture the dominant order. In this light, Chomsky’s observation of revolts, social breakdowns, and revolutionary shifts—whether in the form of anti-imperialist struggles, anti-austerity movements, or grassroots uprisings—can be interpreted as dialectical ruptures: moments when repressed decohesive potentials forcefully reassert themselves, compelling the system to reconfigure its organizing principles. These ruptures are not merely chaotic disruptions but are integral to the dialectical evolution of society, acting as catalysts for the emergence of higher-order equilibria more attuned to justice, diversity, and participatory coherence.

In this sense, Chomsky’s political critique transcends moral denunciation and aligns with a deeper ontological insight: that human systems must maintain a dynamic balance between order and freedom, global integration and local autonomy. When the former overwhelms the latter, instability is not accidental but dialectically necessary. Quantum dialectics thus provides a robust explanatory model for the cyclical rise and fall of imperial projects, showing how their failure to accommodate plurality and self-organization inevitably leads to transformative crisis and reconstitution. Chomsky’s analysis, when seen through this lens, reveals itself as not only politically radical but dialectically inevitable in the unfolding logic of systemic contradiction and change.

Chomsky’s analysis of power—particularly in his propaganda model and broader critiques of state-corporate control—offers a nuanced view of society as composed of interacting layers of influence, including the state apparatus, corporate structures, the media, academia, and cultural institutions. He shows how these layers are not isolated but mutually reinforcing, working together to maintain ideological dominance and marginalize dissent. Through the lens of quantum dialectics, this structural complexity can be understood as a superposition of social systems, where each subsystem—economic, political, media, cultural—functions like a quantum field with its own frequency, amplitude, and phase, constantly interfering, resonating, or colliding with others. These fields are not statically aligned but exist in a dynamic entanglement, producing shifting zones of coherence and decoherence depending on the contradictions that arise within and between them.

In this framework, Chomsky’s model of media control exemplifies how dominant coherence is constructed through the resonance of multiple systems—where media narratives align with corporate interests, which in turn are protected by state policy, and justified through selective academic or ideological legitimations. Yet, quantum dialectics asserts that within any such superposed system, contradictions inevitably accumulate, creating unstable zones of internal decoherence. For instance, the tension between the ideological promise of democracy and the material reality of economic inequality generates a field of contradiction that, under the right conditions, can lead to a phase transition—the sudden emergence of revolutionary consciousness, dissent, or mass mobilization. These transitions are not externally imposed disruptions but endogenous ruptures, arising from the quantum decoherence of the dominant waveforms, where latent potentials become actualized through dialectical stress.

Chomsky’s concept of innate grammar, which he frames as a universal cognitive structure, can be reinterpreted through quantum dialectics as a collapsed emergent potential—not a fixed blueprint, but a product of dialectical interaction between biological substrates and socio-historical influences. His political vision of anarcho-syndicalism, with its emphasis on decentralization and grassroots democracy, aligns with the quantum dialectical principle of decentralized equilibrium—a dynamic balance achieved through the self-organization of decoherent forces. Chomsky’s anti-imperialism reflects a resistance to the over-concentration of cohesive forces, which in quantum dialectics is seen as a pathological over-coherence that suppresses diversity and leads to systemic instability. His propaganda model of media corresponds to the idea of superposed ideological waveforms, where various systems—economic, political, cultural—interfere with each other to shape public consciousness. Finally, his advocacy of political activism and informed dissent resonates with the dialectical mechanism of phase transitions—moments when accumulated contradictions within a system reach a critical threshold, triggering sudden, transformative change. Thus, quantum dialectics provides a coherent scientific and philosophical foundation for understanding and extending Chomsky’s ideas.

Chomsky’s consistent call for media literacy, critical education, and grassroots activism can thus be interpreted as an attempt to activate the decohesive potentials that remain superposed and suppressed within the current capitalist order. His approach does not seek to destroy coherence outright but to de-reify false unities, allowing alternative narratives and forms of social organization to emerge from the interference patterns of existing contradictions. In quantum dialectical terms, Chomsky is urging society to amplify the subaltern frequencies within the superposed field, enabling a transformation of the dominant system not by external imposition, but through the internal actualization of its suppressed dialectical possibilities. This reading situates Chomsky’s political project as both a critique of hegemonic coherence and a call to unleash the emergent decoherence that drives historical change.

While Noam Chomsky often maintains a formal separation between his linguistic theory and his political ideology, a quantum dialectical analysis allows us to uncover deep structural resonances between the two, especially when we consider the material and systemic nature of language. Chomsky’s theory of generative grammar posits that language operates through recursive, rule-governed structures, allowing for the infinite generation of novel expressions from a finite set of syntactic rules. This reflects a profound tension between freedom and constraint, creativity and structure—a tension that sits at the heart of quantum dialectics. In this framework, all systems, including cognitive and linguistic ones, emerge from the interplay of decohesive and cohesive forces: the former allowing openness, multiplicity, and transformation; the latter imposing structure, continuity, and order. Language, from this perspective, is not simply a cognitive tool or a formal system—it is a material-dialectical phenomenon, a manifestation of how matter, consciousness, and social reality interact dynamically.

In quantum dialectics, emergent coherence arises from a fluctuating field of decoherent potentialities, structured by the inner dialectical laws of matter. Applying this to language, we can say that words are quantized articulations of both mental representation and social relation—each word or phrase is not just a unit of syntax, but a collapsed state emerging from the superposition of semantic possibilities, cultural meanings, and historical usage. Syntax itself may be understood as the temporary stabilization of meaning within a dialectical equilibrium between semantic openness (decoherence) and grammatical structure (cohesion). Thus, the generative aspect of language reflects a dialectical process of becoming, where meaning is not fixed but continuously negotiated between the brain’s neural substrate and the socio-historical field in which the speaker is embedded.

Furthermore, this view collapses the Cartesian dualism that Chomsky sometimes preserves in separating mental structures from social context. Through the quantum dialectical lens, the mind is not an isolated formal processor, but a materially organized field, inseparably connected to the world it speaks about. Language becomes the interface between internal cognitive configurations and external socio-historical dynamics—a space where thought, matter, and society intersect through dialectical motion. In this light, Chomsky’s linguistic theory, when stripped of its rationalist essentialism, can be reinterpreted as a model of dialectical emergence, where linguistic form and meaning arise through the coherent structuring of decoherent potentials—a cognitive and social field in perpetual transformation.

Chomsky’s approach to social transformation—grounded in peaceful resistance, education, and collective organization—epitomizes a non-violent, yet radical praxis aimed at dismantling oppressive structures without resorting to chaos or authoritarian substitution. While he refrains from advocating armed revolution, his vision remains fundamentally revolutionary in orientation, rooted in the belief that structural change is both necessary and possible through conscious human agency. In the framework of quantum dialectics, such a stance corresponds to the concept of non-linear systemic evolution, where transformations do not unfold through gradual, incremental change alone, but often through critical thresholds or phase transitions—moments when dialectical contradictions intensify to a point that destabilizes the existing equilibrium and forces the emergence of a new configuration.

Rather than viewing revolution as a cataclysmic rupture, quantum dialectics understands it as a process of constructive decoherence, wherein fluctuations—intellectual, social, and material—disrupt the over-stabilized coherence of a dominant system, allowing suppressed or latent potentials to reorganize into a new dialectical synthesis. Chomsky’s emphasis on moral responsibility, critical consciousness, and informed dissent can be seen as strategic injections of dialectical noise into the hegemonic system—fluctuations that challenge its stability without necessarily dismantling its foundational coherence. These interventions are not destructive in nature but redistributive: they seek to decenter concentrated cohesive forces (such as those held by state power or capital) and reallocate coherence across broader social terrains, enabling more equitable, participatory, and dynamic forms of organization.

This dialectical process is not linear or deterministic. Just as in quantum systems, where a small perturbation can trigger a large-scale reorganization if the system is near a bifurcation point, Chomsky’s model of resistance recognizes that timely interventions—through education, dissent, or solidarity—can catalyze systemic transformation when contradictions reach maturity. His rejection of violent upheaval does not imply passivity but reflects a deeper understanding of praxis as conscious participation in dialectical evolution, shaping outcomes not through force but through resonant disruption, aligning with the rhythms of historical necessity and collective potential. Thus, in quantum dialectical terms, Chomsky’s political praxis emerges as a deliberate activation of constructive decoherence—a pathway to revolutionary change that preserves social coherence by redefining its structure, rather than annihilating it.

In conclusion, the synthesis of Chomsky’s thought with the framework of quantum dialectics reveals a rich convergence between his intellectual and political positions and the dialectical principles underlying systemic transformation. Chomsky’s theory of innate universal grammar, often viewed as a biologically determined structure of the mind, can be reinterpreted quantum dialectically as a collapsed emergent potential—a historically and materially conditioned configuration arising from the interaction of cohesive and decohesive forces within nature and society. Rather than being a fixed, ahistorical blueprint, the generative capacity of language reflects the emergent order arising from the self-organization of matter under dialectical tension—mirroring the dynamic equilibrium that characterizes all complex systems.

Chomsky’s political ideology, particularly his advocacy of anarcho-syndicalism, aligns with the quantum dialectical concept of decentralized equilibrium. In this view, horizontal structures of self-governance—such as workers’ councils and participatory democracy—are not chaotic or structureless, but represent coherent systems formed through decoherent self-organization. These configurations balance the need for structure with the imperative for freedom, emerging as spontaneous orders grounded in mutual cooperation and dynamic feedback rather than top-down control. His persistent critique of imperialism and neoliberal hegemony likewise finds correspondence in the quantum dialectical resistance to over-coherence—where dominant global power structures suppress pluralism and diversity in the name of uniformity and control. In such systems, the suppression of decohesive forces (local autonomy, cultural specificity, democratic expression) leads inevitably to systemic instability, inviting dialectical rupture and the possibility of new socio-political formations.

Thus, Chomsky’s corpus—from his linguistics to his radical politics—can be reframed within quantum dialectics as an articulation of how systems evolve through the tension of opposites, how coherence must emerge from contradiction, and how liberation depends on recognizing and activating suppressed potentials within existing structures. His insistence on critical inquiry, moral responsibility, and grassroots empowerment echoes the quantum dialectical call to unleash transformative decoherence—not as disorder, but as the creative force through which new, more just orders are born.

Chomsky’s analysis of media control and the manufacture of consent illustrates how ideological systems operate through a complex superposition of informational waveforms—state narratives, corporate interests, cultural norms, and institutional knowledge—all of which interact to shape public consciousness. In the lens of quantum dialectics, these overlapping ideological fields can be seen as entangled systems, each exerting cohesive pressures that reinforce dominant structures while simultaneously containing latent contradictions and decoherent potentials. The media, then, is not merely a neutral transmitter but an active field of interference and resonance, where competing narratives struggle for coherence and dominance. Chomsky’s call for critical media literacy can be reframed as a strategy for disentangling and decohering hegemonic waveforms, allowing suppressed or marginalized perspectives to emerge and gain systemic traction.

When extended to political activism, Chomsky’s vision of organized, conscious resistance becomes, in quantum dialectical terms, the deliberate triggering of systemic phase transitions. These transitions occur not through linear accumulation but through the intensification of dialectical contradictions—between concentrated power and democratic aspirations, wealth and inequality, imperialism and autonomy. At critical thresholds, these contradictions catalyze non-linear transformations, akin to quantum phase shifts, wherein existing structures reconfigure to accommodate new configurations of social energy and coherence. Chomsky’s emphasis on moral responsibility and rational agency—often critiqued as overly idealistic—gains a more grounded and scientific basis when viewed through quantum dialectics, which understands the emergence of order and consciousness as rooted in the material interactions of complex systems, not abstract ideals.

In this reframing, Chomsky’s rationalism and moralism are not opposed to materialism but become its higher-order expressions, arising from the dynamic self-organization of nature, mind, and society. His framework, when infused with quantum dialectical understanding, acquires greater depth and explanatory power: the capacity to explain how revolutionary potential emerges, not merely as a moral imperative, but as a material necessity, driven by contradictions at every layer of the system—cognitive, ideological, social, and historical. In this synthesis, Chomsky’s critique becomes a scientific dialectics of consciousness and change, grounded in the evolving logic of the material world itself.

Quantum dialectics does not stand in opposition to Chomsky’s intellectual legacy; rather, it serves as a scientifically enriched scaffolding that reinterprets, contextualizes, and extends his insights into a more integrated and materialist framework. Chomsky’s work—rooted in rationalist epistemology, moral universalism, and political resistance to concentrated power—often operates within dualisms such as innate vs. learned, cognition vs. society, and ideology vs. truth. Quantum dialectics, by contrast, dissolves such rigid boundaries and reframes them as dialectical polarities in dynamic tension, governed by the interplay of cohesive and decohesive forces across all levels of reality. It views consciousness, language, ideology, and revolution not as discrete or externally imposed phenomena but as emergent properties of self-organizing material systems evolving through contradiction, feedback, and phase transitions.

Chomsky’s belief in innate structures, moral agency, and grassroots democratic control can thus be deepened and grounded in a materialist ontology that recognizes these phenomena as products of historical, biological, and systemic interactions—not static essences, but collapsed outcomes of probabilistic potentials shaped by dialectical processes. His critique of media, capitalism, and imperialism becomes more potent when understood as the resonance and interference of ideological fields that seek to stabilize social coherence by suppressing decoherent energies such as dissent, plurality, and revolutionary imagination. Rather than discarding Chomsky’s rationalism, quantum dialectics incorporates it into a broader vision where reason, ethics, and freedom emerge dialectically from the material substratum of life and society. In this way, quantum dialectics offers a unified vision—where Chomsky’s lifelong pursuit of truth and justice finds not only philosophical alignment but also scientific validation through a dialectical understanding of reality as inherently dynamic, contradictory, and evolving toward higher-order complexity and liberation.

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