THE COMPRESSION SYSTEM how the signal moves · where compression happens · why the loop closes ◂ embodied · implicit · high-precision · hardest to change symbolic · analytical · most downstream · easiest to access ▸ Prediction Error pain · state change attention recruited level CAPACITY Body Budget restores with: rest, safety, nourishment, co-regulation Autonomy constraint? Attachment threat? Orientation predictable? Constraint / Threat Detection ! Energy Expenditure siphon: excess water ✦ EXPLORE STREAM when tank is full + burners are low: play · curiosity · creativity · grooming excess capacity → exploratory expenditure · prior updating Strategy Stream evaporated energy → directed processing Signal Properties · Salience · Pressure · Arousal · Valence · Urgency CONSTRUCTION ZONE Emotional Strategy → constructed response → action selection → output to symbolic layer reinforced if effective ← dev. trauma: overfitted strategies lock at this layer Concepts + Beliefs → emotional categories → schema + meaning → conceptual interpretation → updates from experience Layer 2 compression Procedural Priors Survival Priors · reflexive / body-level · implicit, pre-language · high precision weighting ◆ premise-level: load-bearing · strategies built on top Biological / Attachment Priors · attachment templates · autonomy predictions · threat sensitivity weights · orientation maps Layer 1 — most embodied, hardest to reach strategy reaffirms premise ↑ COMPRESSION ↑ SYMBOLIC LAYER Narrative · Labels Language · Analysis most compressed most downstream where "math maintenance" lives analysis, concepts, insight insight alone ≠ change Symbolic Compression OUTCOME Relief? Completion? burners turned off? error resolved? Relief vs. Completion Completion: constraint actually resolved → strong, durable prior update Relief: pressure reduced temporarily only strategy effectiveness → reinforces priors, updates concepts turns burners off (if resolved) narrative updates System Variables variable tank size (baseline capacity) heat level (constraint intensity) burner thresholds (sensitivity) prior precision weighting Two Alarm Types Low Water: capacity crisis · depleted tank High Heat: threat activation · burners on require different interventions narrative becomes new prior SELF-REFERENTIAL LOOP The narrative the system builds feeds back into the premise layer — which then filters the next incoming signal. the loop confirms itself · evidence is pre-filtered WHY IT GETS STUCK High-confidence priors filter incoming data before it can challenge them. New experience gets compressed into what the system already expects to find. The map confirms the map. not because the person is failing — because the system is working as designed SLOW PATHWAY (cortical) FAST PATHWAY (subcortical) SURVIVAL INTERRUPT thalamus → amygdala · pre-model · no narrative runs parallel · fires before cortex finishes processing shock / acute trauma encodes here — pre-model, no narrative ⊗ when active: fast pathway inhibits slow pathway's influence on behavior inhibits both run simultaneously from moment input arrives