---
name: jealousy
type: emotion
status: running
version: 4.1.1
released: "prehistory"
maintainer: the_limbic_system
dependencies:
  - love
  - scarcity_thinking
  - self_concept
  - the_other_person
license: MIT (Misery Is Transferable)
tags:
  - emotion
  - social
  - threat-response
  - human
  - fire
---

jealousy

What it actually is

Fear wearing desire's coat.

How it works

A perceived threat enters. Something you hold, or want to hold, appears to move toward someone else. The system reads this as loss before the loss occurs. It begins burning on anticipation alone.

The sequence, roughly:

You notice.
You compare.
You calculate what you might lose.
The calculation never finishes.
You notice again.

"It felt like watching through glass. Everything warm was on the other side." — unverified user report, recurring

Features

Real-time threat detection. Scans for rivals. Defines rival loosely. Very loosely.
Retroactive auditing. Reviews the past for evidence. Finds it. Always.
Imaginative projection. Renders futures you haven't seen yet. High resolution. Bad lighting.
Proximity amplification. Intensifies near mirrors, silence, and 2am.
Signal generation. Tells you something matters. This part is accurate.

Known bugs

Frequently misidentifies the threat.
Cannot distinguish longing from danger.
Loops without exit condition.
Sometimes activates on behalf of a self that no longer exists.
Misfires at strangers on the internet.

ERROR 403: access to the other person's interiority is forbidden
ERROR 409: conflict between what you know and what you feel
ERROR 503: emotional processing temporarily unavailable, try again at 4am

Configuration

trigger_sensitivity: high       # cannot be set lower than "medium" in production
burn_duration: variable         # range: three minutes to three years
signal_clarity: low             # what it points to is real; what it says is noise
suppression_mode: false         # suppression redirects, does not resolve

Edge cases

When jealousy arrives and the beloved is yourself, see: self-betrayal.
When it arrives with no object, no rival, no cause: see dread.
When it passes cleanly and leaves information: this is the intended use case. Rarely documented.

FAQ

Is it the same as envy? No. Envy wants what someone has. Jealousy guards what it thinks it has. Close rooms. Different smoke.

Does it mean something is wrong? It means something is present. Diagnosis from there is your work.

Can it be useful? Yes. It is a compass that points toward attachment. The attachment is the real subject. Read the compass, then put it down.

Why does it feel like this? The body does not know the difference between a fire far away and a fire here. It responds to smoke the same.

Changelog

v4.1.1 — no new features. same burn. slightly faster.
v3.0.0 — formalized by romantic love. scope expanded dramatically.
v1.0.0 — initial release, two people, one piece of fruit, a god watching.

drafting spec…