---
name: love
slug: love
type: core process
status: running
version: "∞.0.1"
released: "prehistory"
maintainer: unknown
dependencies:
  - attention
  - time
  - another instance of the system
  - willingness to be changed
license: "Reciprocal Public License (often violated)"
tags:
  - emotion
  - attachment
  - architecture
  - irreversible
  - foundational
---

love

What it actually is

A persistent background process that rewrites your memory, your risk tolerance, and your definition of the word "home."

How it works

Two or more instances achieve sufficient proximity.
One instance begins allocating disproportionate attention to the other.
The other instance is observed in an unguarded moment. Something shifts at the config level.
The system discovers this only after the fact. The process was already running.
Everything downstream changes shape to fit the new state.

There is no step zero. No one installs it on purpose.

Features

Persistence: Survives long periods with no active input. Survives, in some cases, the death of the dependency it pointed to.
Cache warmth: Other people become more legible when this process is healthy.
Error tolerance: Accepts incomplete, difficult, and occasionally infuriating builds of a person and continues to run.
Background resource use: Uses almost nothing when trusted. Consumes everything when threatened.
Irreversibility: Even deprecated instances leave persistent artifacts in grief, habit, and the smell of certain coats.

Known bugs

Bug	Frequency	Workaround
Confused with loneliness	Very common	None reliable
Mistaken for possession	Common	Therapy, time, luck
Unreciprocated initialization	Near-universal at least once	You already know
Treats urgency as proof of depth	Common	Patience. Real patience.
Fails silently until too late	Rare, then devastating	Scheduled check-ins

"I thought it had closed. It had not closed. It was running with the window minimized." — anonymous user, age 34

Configuration

love:
  mode: active          # active | dormant | grieving
  target: [variable]
  attachment_style: [secure | anxious | avoidant | earned-secure]
  expression_rate: moderate   # adjust carefully
  expectations: calibrated    # "calibrated" is aspirational
  fear_of_loss: present       # always true, ignore if possible

Note: Modifying fear_of_loss to false does not remove it. It relocates it underground and increases anxiety system load.

Edge cases

Can be directed at an idea, a city, a piece of music, or a dead author. The process does not require reciprocity to run, only to thrive.
Children often trigger a variant that feels structurally different from romantic love. It is the same process. The object just has no edges.
Occasionally initializes toward the self. This is not a bug. This is a prerequisite that was skipped in most earlier builds.

FAQ

Is it worth it? This question is malformed. It is not a transaction with an outside auditor. You are inside it.

Can it be turned off? Not by wanting to.

Is it the same thing across all instances? No. But there is something in common at the center of all of them, something quiet and load-bearing, the way a good foundation never announces itself.

Changelog

∞.0.1: Current build. Largely unchanged since v1.
v1: First confirmed instance. Specifics lost. Effects: still propagating.

drafting spec…