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Tom Veatch
Flames of inspiration often leave smoke signals behind.From mine, these.
| A More General Theory of the Syllogism | Abstracting logic. Aristotle's
list of syllogisms missed half of them; there's nothing to them
(H!); and we can do better
without. Still it is pretty fun and cool, considering this was the intellectual pinnacle of humanity for 2000 years, and plus I'd say this is not a bad introduction to "term logic", and might be suggested reading for students of computer science, philosophy, classics, and/or math. |
| Bliss Theory and Thereabouts | How psychology must be that bliss is possible. Read about it here. |
| N+V Humor Theory | Veatch's 1998 "A Theory of Humor" |
| Bliss Theory (Version 1.0) | First, unpublished, draft of Bliss Theory, written in 2012. Breathtaking. This contains a lot I still haven't taken further in writing, some of the most important parts, so it's up front for now. |
| On Humility | Just a page. |
| The Logic of Irrational Emotion | Emotion in general, considered evolutionarily and logically. Mathematical notation for the emotional process. Review of N+V Humor Theory using it. Veatch asserts that the process of identifying yourself with an emotionally significant circumstance or role has a binding function whereby the emotional system is bound or required to implement the specific emotion that the system associates with that circumstance or role. That is, identification binds emotion. From this, much follows. Bound, a person harmonizes with others in shared understanding, moral assessment, and feeling, around a shared activity. Bound, a person is not free to experience the moment, the now, the timeless flow, but is instead aware of their status and moral self-assessment. Unbound, wherein identification does not occur, emotional flow states, high performance, spiritual goodness, etc., occur with attention paid to the evolving situation rather than to thinking about how it reflects upon you and tells a story about you. Unbound, the person has access to the unconditioned or irrational emotions of bliss, serenity, transcendence, etc. Veatch's Razor, distinguishing these, is offered. |
| The Ugliness of Beauty | Beauty can also be ugly, an ugly business |
| Notes from a Forehead on the Ground | After a week, a Friday night program, after the chanting, after the meditation, after darshan, comes a contemplation of oneness. A subset of Darshan Notes, selected for accessibility. Click "Choose One For Me Now". |
| (Im)Possible Worlds | Where I rant and rave against "possible worlds" being used where "concieveable worlds" is intended. But "conceiveable" does not mean (actually) "possible"! So wake up, logicians! |
| Uncle Moose's Map of All Knowledge | A draft outline organization for tomveatch.com essays, from 2020. Emacs .org format. Outdated, abandoned. |
| Human Evolution | Logic constrains biology, biology constrains us, and yet we think and speak and feel. How did we get here, then, and what parts came in what order? This was a lot of fun to write. Includes Tautology, and Cognitive Biology, and Conceptual Archeology. |
| Borges | On the Crease of Logic |
| Logic from Space | A solution to the Crease of Logic. |
| Darwinian Selection Logic | Because although mutation is random, selection is functionally logical. Combined with the Crease of Logic, this resolves the conflict between the evolution-denying God-As-Designer folks and the evolution-affirming atheist folks. Have a look. |
| Meaningfulness Itself | Where the sense of meaningfulness is understood as transactional transcendence, using bliss theory. |
| A Theory of Anger | in which the existence of Anger is questioned, and the current standard of care for angry people is critiqued and improved upon. This one is important. |
| On Hierarchy and Value | Hierarchy and its emotional opposite, Oneness, are explored. How Jordan Peterson agrees with Karl Marx. Why hierarchy is the compassionate, inclusive solution. The geometry of hierarchy. How dominance hierarchy transmutes into admiration hierarchy, creating communities of shared values. Emotion within social hierarchy. |
| Robot Emotion | On the design of emotional systems for humans and robots. Motivational frames and their relative priorities. Metrics to guide reinforcement learning. |
| Pratyabhijna Hrdayam | Recognition of the Heart. 20 verses explaining what you have forgotten, what you are, and how to remember. |
| Selves | The many things referred to by 'Self', with commentary. Concluding with emotionally disinhibitory goodness. |
| Identity | An argument against all identities, not just in politics. |
| Peace of Mind | Something came to me and seemed to resolve my anxiety. |
| On Suffering | How we torture ourselves, and how we don't have to. |
| Value in our 21st Century | Tom explores fundamentals around money. Price discovery; Market Equilibrium a false idea; Money being the metric of Value, what is the value of money?; Financial forces: Hydraulic Flow versus Smarts; Can we even bet?; The Turkey, The Butcher, and the Antifragile Investor; The Making of Money; Tech Deflation; Two Arms of Value; Real Value; Epilogue. |
| The Oxytocin Vortex | Implications of hormone science for romantic relationships. Everyone likes oxytocin. But it can mess you up, so know what you're dealing with and be responsible. |
| Non Violent Communication | A summary of Marshall Rosenberg's Non-Violent
Communication system for effective diplomacy. How to express
yourself in any situation. How to say what you want without making
enemies. How to have a desired influence. If you are in a relationship, learn this. That means you. |
| On Misunderstandings | Misunderstandings bedevil every relationship. But there is a constructive way to handle them. |
| A Theory of Anger | in which the existence of Anger is questioned, and the current standard of care for angry people is critiqued and improved upon. This one is important. |
| Active Listening | How to encourage another person: A step by step breakdown. |
| Emotional Merger | Emotional change involves the reassessment of circumstances; a process that must come to include new details within the focus of attention, as well as to exclude now-irrelevant aspects of what had previously been focussed. I clarify and define emotional merger and specification as fundamental cognitive/emotional processes in this theoretical essay, which seems to have as great a significance in the cognitive architecture of emotion as humor theory. |
| Hindutva and Free Will | An alternate view of the free will vs determinism debate |
| Philosophical Introspections | In defense of introspection. |
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