For new readers, I recommend going over my original post before reading this update.

My friend “M,” an AI and math professor, recommended that I clean up my concepts more first before solidifying my math, but to track relevant changes so that I have an idea of how things are shifting. Since I’m showing this in my blog now, I’ll try to be clearer on my reasoning and supportive footnotes as I go along. I might come back and edit those in here.

Adding co-regulation (buffering vs relearning during activation) and allowing gain/sensitivity to change over time makes things considerably different. But it’s making me think ambient threat probably acts on sensitivity rather than vigilance. I’m also starting to think ambient threat shouldn’t be considered a vigilance floor because that seems more appropriate for targeted criminalization of specific groups.

♥︎ If threat acts on vigilance, removing it should make people calm down right away.

♥︎ If threat acts on sensitivity, removing it stops further damage, but people still react strongly until they relearn that the world is actually safer.

I.E.: If a magical revolution occurred tomorrow and ambient threat was removed, it would remove its impact on gain and would lower inputs to vigilance, but would not remove previous learning, demonstrate safety, or provide corrective signals, so people would still suffer without some form of repair.

So what all am I changing here?

⋆｡°✩ Change 1: Vigilance did too much work before. Now: V(t) = fast state (moment-to-moment arousal). g(t) = slow parameter (how sensitive/reactive the system is.)

⋆｡°✩ Change 2: Co-regulation has two roles. 1. Fast buffering (reduces vigilance in the moment) and 2. slow relearning during activation (drives gain down over time.)

⋆｡°✩ Change 3: Repair emerged as a condition for gain to change, not as a variable. When repair is present, gain becomes plastic and can reduce. This replaces what the vigilance floor was originally doing in v0.1 as a stand-in for chronic threat.

I think the next reasonable step is defining repair because mutual aid and accountability are not repair.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ ⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ ⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ ⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Related Work/Footnotes:
I am very sleepy right now but will update.