Fear in Four Dimensions

You want to face your fears, but they're hard to find.

Fears feast on uncertainty, and the unknown is slippery. You cannot know the unknowable, nor evade the inevitable. Uncertainty forever lurks in your periphery.

To study a fear is to steal its power. You cannot destroy uncertainties, but you can tame them with labels, measures, and deductions.

One way to tame the unknown: experiment with its knobs. Your natural curiosity will lead you to countless knobs, most of which will be incorrect/incomplete. That's okay -- even wrong knobs can help you navigate the darkness.

So what exactly is fear? Let's start with some plausible knobs:

specific→diffuse nebulous monsters

agent→victim invincible monsters

discomfort→death lethal monsters

impossible→inevitable tangible monsters

You can see these dimensions in plain English vocabulary:

unease 7.0 4.5 2.5 4.0

worry 7.2 4.0 3.0 5.0

nervousness 6.0 4.0 2.5 4.5

apprehension 5.0 4.5 3.5 6.0

misgiving 3.5 3.5 3.0 5.5

trepidation 4.0 5.0 4.0 6.5

anxiety 8.5 5.5 4.5 4.5

angst 9.0 5.5 4.5 4.0

disquiet 8.0 5.0 3.5 4.5

dread 6.5 7.0 6.0 7.5

foreboding 7.0 6.5 6.5 7.5

paranoia 7.0 6.5 5.5 6.5

agitation 6.0 6.5 4.5 5.0

phobia 1.0 5.5 5.5 2.5

fear 4.5 5.0 5.5 5.0

alarm 3.0 4.5 5.5 7.0

fright 2.5 5.5 5.5 8.0

despair 8.5 8.5 8.0 8.5

doom 8.0 8.5 9.0 9.0

panic 4.0 8.0 7.0 8.0

hysteria 5.0 9.0 7.5 7.0

terror 3.5 8.0 9.0 8.0

horror 5.5 7.5 9.0 8.5

These scores are my own. Survey other humans if you want a more representative sample.

In mathematics, knobs are sometimes called dimensions. Independent knobs are orthogonal.

But these D/V/S/P knobs seem cross-contaminated. By definition, inevitable (P) events don't permit agency (V). Don't be discouraged -- even imperfect theories can pierce the darkness.

Numbers with dimensions are called vectors, and linear algebra provides tools like principal component analysis to help untangle correlated dimensions.

Luckily, roughly a third of your cortex processes colors/shapes/movements. Sample the unknown; tie its knobs to charts/diagrams.

bubble chart plotting example fears

Fear

Spider on your arm 0.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Stage fright 2.5 4.0 3.5 5.0

Terminal diagnosis 1.5 8.5 9.5 6.0

Death / the void 8.5 9.5 9.8 9.9

Free-floating anxiety 9.5 7.0 5.0 3.0

Failing an exam 2.0 2.5 3.0 4.0

Drowning, right now 0.5 4.5 9.5 2.0

Climate collapse 8.0 8.5 8.0 8.0

Losing a loved one 3.0 8.5 9.0 8.5

Prepper's dread of collapse 8.0 1.5 8.5 3.0

Wasting your potential 8.0 2.5 5.5 6.5

Mild FOMO 8.5 3.5 2.0 7.0

Your team losing the match 1.5 9.0 2.0 5.0

A surgeon's fatal slip 2.0 1.0 9.5 1.5

Saying the unforgivable thing 3.0 1.5 8.0 3.5

Moral-corruption dread 8.5 2.0 8.5 5.5

Failing your child by degrees 7.5 2.0 9.0 6.0

Heights / the long drop 1.0 6.0 8.0 2.0

A noise in the dark 6.5 7.0 5.5 2.5

Public humiliation 3.0 5.5 6.5 4.5

Your own aging and decline 7.0 8.0 7.0 9.5

Choking, right now 0.5 5.5 9.0 2.0

Losing your job 4.5 5.5 5.5 4.5

Loved one late, not answering 4.0 8.5 7.0 2.5

Nuclear war 8.0 9.5 9.5 3.0

A lump you just found 2.0 7.5 8.5 5.0

Your plane in turbulence 1.0 8.5 7.5 2.5

Speaking to your crush 2.5 3.0 2.0 6.5

Financial ruin 7.0 5.5 6.0 4.0

Being forgotten after you die 8.5 7.0 7.0 7.5

You cannot evict all fears from your mind, but you can turn the volume down as you discover more knobs:

specific→diffuse : use more concrete language, study the subject

agent→victim : prep, learn defensive maneuvers, wear armor, rehearse emergencies

discomfort→death : meditate, hormesis (e.g. ice bath), gratitude, memento mori

impossible→inevitable : study probability, tally how rarely the dreaded thing lands

Shine your light into that deep unknown and watch your universe unfurl in shadows of shadows of shadows.

Fear in Four Dimensions

Related Articles

Claude Fable 5

US Government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5

Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in – and they're not good

The Anatomy of an AI-Native Org

Apertus – Open Foundation Model for Sovereign AI