# Fear in Four Dimensions

You want to face your fears, but they're hard to find.

Fears feast on uncertainty, and the unknown is slippery. You cannot know the
unknowable, nor evade the inevitable. Uncertainty forever lurks in your
periphery.

To study a fear is to steal its power. You cannot destroy uncertainties, but you
can tame them with labels, measures, and deductions.

One way to tame the unknown: experiment with its knobs. Your natural curiosity
will lead you to countless knobs, most of which will be incorrect/incomplete.
That's okay -- even wrong knobs can help you navigate the darkness.

So what exactly is fear? Let's start with some plausible knobs:

|       |                       |                       |
| ----- | --------------------- | --------------------: |
| **D** | specific→diffuse      |   _nebulous monsters_ |
| **V** | agent→victim          | _invincible monsters_ |
| **S** | discomfort→death      |     _lethal monsters_ |
| **P** | impossible→inevitable |   _tangible monsters_ |

You can see these dimensions in plain English vocabulary:

|              | D | V | S | P |
| -----------: | :------: | :------: | :------: | :------: |
|       unease |   7.0    |   4.5    |   2.5    |   4.0    |
|        worry |   7.2    |   4.0    |   3.0    |   5.0    |
|  nervousness |   6.0    |   4.0    |   2.5    |   4.5    |
| apprehension |   5.0    |   4.5    |   3.5    |   6.0    |
|    misgiving |   3.5    |   3.5    |   3.0    |   5.5    |
|  trepidation |   4.0    |   5.0    |   4.0    |   6.5    |
|      anxiety |   8.5    |   5.5    |   4.5    |   4.5    |
|        angst |   9.0    |   5.5    |   4.5    |   4.0    |
|     disquiet |   8.0    |   5.0    |   3.5    |   4.5    |
|        dread |   6.5    |   7.0    |   6.0    |   7.5    |
|   foreboding |   7.0    |   6.5    |   6.5    |   7.5    |
|     paranoia |   7.0    |   6.5    |   5.5    |   6.5    |
|    agitation |   6.0    |   6.5    |   4.5    |   5.0    |
|       phobia |   1.0    |   5.5    |   5.5    |   2.5    |
|         fear |   4.5    |   5.0    |   5.5    |   5.0    |
|        alarm |   3.0    |   4.5    |   5.5    |   7.0    |
|       fright |   2.5    |   5.5    |   5.5    |   8.0    |
|      despair |   8.5    |   8.5    |   8.0    |   8.5    |
|         doom |   8.0    |   8.5    |   9.0    |   9.0    |
|        panic |   4.0    |   8.0    |   7.0    |   8.0    |
|     hysteria |   5.0    |   9.0    |   7.5    |   7.0    |
|       terror |   3.5    |   8.0    |   9.0    |   8.0    |
|       horror |   5.5    |   7.5    |   9.0    |   8.5    |

[^note]: These scores are my own. Survey other humans if you want a more
    representative sample.

In mathematics, knobs are sometimes called _dimensions_. Independent knobs are
_orthogonal_.

But these D/V/S/P knobs seem cross-contaminated. By definition, inevitable (P)
events don't permit agency (V). Don't be discouraged -- even imperfect theories
can pierce the darkness.

[^note]: Numbers with dimensions are called _vectors_, and linear algebra
    provides tools like
    [principal component analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_component_analysis)
    to help untangle correlated dimensions.

Luckily, roughly a third of your cortex processes colors/shapes/movements.
Sample the unknown; tie its knobs to charts/diagrams.

<object type="image/svg+xml" data="/fear-bubbles.svg" aria-label="A bubble chart plotting example fears; hover any bubble for its label">A
bubble chart plotting example fears</object>

|                          Fear |   #   |  D  |  V  |  S  |  P  |
| ----------------------------: | :---: | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: |
|            Spider on your arm | **1** | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
|                  Stage fright | **2** | 2.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 5.0 |
|            Terminal diagnosis | **3** | 1.5 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 6.0 |
|              Death / the void | **4** | 8.5 | 9.5 | 9.8 | 9.9 |
|         Free-floating anxiety | **5** | 9.5 | 7.0 | 5.0 | 3.0 |
|               Failing an exam | **6** | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.0 |
|           Drowning, right now | **7** | 0.5 | 4.5 | 9.5 | 2.0 |
|              Climate collapse | **8** | 8.0 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
|            Losing a loved one | **9** | 3.0 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 8.5 |
|   Prepper's dread of collapse | **A** | 8.0 | 1.5 | 8.5 | 3.0 |
|        Wasting your potential | **B** | 8.0 | 2.5 | 5.5 | 6.5 |
|                     Mild FOMO | **C** | 8.5 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 7.0 |
|    Your team losing the match | **D** | 1.5 | 9.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 |
|        A surgeon's fatal slip | **E** | 2.0 | 1.0 | 9.5 | 1.5 |
| Saying the unforgivable thing | **F** | 3.0 | 1.5 | 8.0 | 3.5 |
|        Moral-corruption dread | **G** | 8.5 | 2.0 | 8.5 | 5.5 |
| Failing your child by degrees | **H** | 7.5 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 6.0 |
|       Heights / the long drop | **J** | 1.0 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 2.0 |
|           A noise in the dark | **K** | 6.5 | 7.0 | 5.5 | 2.5 |
|            Public humiliation | **L** | 3.0 | 5.5 | 6.5 | 4.5 |
|    Your own aging and decline | **M** | 7.0 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 9.5 |
|            Choking, right now | **N** | 0.5 | 5.5 | 9.0 | 2.0 |
|               Losing your job | **P** | 4.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 4.5 |
| Loved one late, not answering | **Q** | 4.0 | 8.5 | 7.0 | 2.5 |
|                   Nuclear war | **R** | 8.0 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 3.0 |
|         A lump you just found | **S** | 2.0 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 5.0 |
|      Your plane in turbulence | **T** | 1.0 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 2.5 |
|        Speaking to your crush | **U** | 2.5 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 6.5 |
|                Financial ruin | **V** | 7.0 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 4.0 |
| Being forgotten after you die | **W** | 8.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.5 |

You cannot evict all fears from your mind, but you can turn the volume down as
you discover more knobs:

- **specific→diffuse**: use more concrete language, study the subject
- **agent→victim**: prep, learn defensive maneuvers, wear armor, rehearse
  emergencies
- **discomfort→death**: meditate, hormesis (e.g. ice bath), gratitude, memento
  mori
- **impossible→inevitable**: study probability, tally how rarely the dreaded
  thing lands

Shine your light into that deep unknown and watch your universe unfurl in
shadows of shadows of shadows.