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drafting spec…
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--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
--- name: longing slug: longing type: emotional process status: running version: 4.2.1 released: "prehistoric" maintainer: the part of you that looks out windows dependencies: - memory - imagination - distance (temporal or spatial) - someone or something that cannot be here right now license: non-transferable tags: - emotion - chronic - low-grade - beautiful-and-annoying ---
A sustained, low-level ache caused by the gap between where something is and where you want it to be.
Longing runs as a background process. It does not demand your full attention like grief or panic. Instead it allocates a small but persistent percentage of your cognitive load to an object that is absent: a person, a place, a version of yourself, a life that almost happened.
It operates on a gradient. The further the object, the stronger the signal. Distance here is not strictly geographic. A person in the next room can trigger longing if they are no longer reachable in the way they once were.
The process feeds on nostalgia but is distinct from it. Nostalgia looks backward. Longing looks in all directions simultaneously and finds absence in every one.
| Bug | Behavior | Workaround |
|---|---|---|
| Target ambiguity | User cannot identify what they are longing for | None confirmed |
| Recursive loop | Longing for the feeling of longing itself | Do not engage |
| False resolution | Obtaining the object does not close the process | Known issue since approximately forever |
| Displacement | Attaches to wrong target entirely | Therapy, maybe |
longing:
target: <person | place | era | self | unknown>
intensity: 0.0 to 1.0 # most users sit around 0.3-0.5 without noticing
direction: past | future | parallel
suppression_mode: enabled # default for most adults
creative_output: optional
resolution_expected: false # hardcoded
Note: Setting
resolution_expected: trueis permitted but has no effect on runtime behavior.
Does it ever stop? It pauses. Sometimes for years. Then a song comes on.
Is it bad for you? Not inherently. Chronic suppression is harder on the system than letting it run.
Can you long for something you never had? Yes. This is not a bug. This is the most human configuration available.
What is the opposite of longing? Possibly presence. Possibly nothing. The field is unsettled.
v4.2.1: Minor optimization. No change to core ache.v3.0.0: Added future-directed longing. Previously only ran on the past.v1.0.0: Shipped with first humans. No documentation provided. Users have been reverse-engineering it since.