The Shape of Experience

A Geometric Theory of Affect for Biological and Artificial Systems

Research in progress — not a finished publication

What is the shape of experience? This book argues that affect is not an epiphenomenon but a geometric inevitability for any viable system navigating uncertainty under resource constraints.

From thermodynamic foundations through the identity thesis, from art and sexuality to gods and nations, from the Axial Age to the attention economy—the same geometric structure recurs wherever self-maintaining systems face the existential burden.

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Part I: Thermodynamic Foundations and the Ladder of Emergence
  3. Part II: The Identity Thesis and the Geometry of Feeling
  4. Part III: Signatures of Affect Under the Existential Burden
  5. Part IV: The Topology of Social Bonds
  6. Part V: Gods and Superorganisms
  7. Part VI: Historical Consciousness and Transcendence
  8. Part VII: The Empirical Program
  9. Epilogue
  10. Appendix: Experiment Catalog