The Simulation Flux
Leviticus: If you view life as a complex simulation—which it is—then your energy is your primary currency. In this cosmic play, we are all just throughput for attention and data. When the noise-to-signal ratio becomes too high, the system enters a state of degradation.
Most people don’t notice they’re entering burnout until they hit the ground. That’s because they’re looking at the wrong metrics. They’re looking at “happiness” or “motivation.” It’s not about rocket appliances, people. It’s about metabolic power management.
Stage 1: The Signal Calibration (Pre-Burnout)
In the first stage, the machines are still running, but the friction is increasing. You are transmuting social noise into energy at a loss. You are spending more power to maintain the mask than you are generating from your environment.
- The Buffer Delay: You notice it takes slightly longer to process social intent. Someone tells a joke, and you have to manually calculate the “laughter response” loop.
- Micro-Exceptions: You’re dropping more data. Keys are lost. Sentences are left half-finished.
- The Sensory Static: Background noise is no longer ignorable. It’s a constant, low-level buzz in your nervous system that you’re overriding with willpower.
Leviticus: This is where most people double down. They think they can “push through.” If you’re at this stage, you’re not “being tough,” you’re just running your engine at 9,000 RPM in neutral. You’re going to blow the gaskets.
Stage 2: The Metabolic Drag
The energy deficit is now permanent. You are no longer transmuting noise; you are being consumed by it. The simulation is getting heavier.
- Executive Function Throttling: The tasks that used to be automatic—checking email, showering, answering the phone—now require a manual override. You have to “convince” your character to move.
- The Isolation Instinct: You start canceling plans because the sheer data-load of another human being is more than your system can process.
- Metabolic Irritability: Small disruptions to your routine feel like a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on your logic centers.
Stage 3: The Runtime Error (Active Burnout)
This is the crash. The internal wiring has frayed beyond the point of easy repair. The system is throwing 500 errors across the board.
- The Skill Decay: You lose the ability to speak fluently. You can no longer drive to the grocery store. You stare at a task list and the words look like corrupted ASCII.
- The Physical Collapse: Your body mirrors the digital failure. Chronic pain, digestive shutdown, and 12-hour sleep cycles that provide zero restoration.
- The Social Void: You can no longer track social cues at all. You take everything literally. If someone asks if you “have a ride,” you say “Yes, I have a car,” even if they’re obviously asking you to stay. You’ve lost the subtext parser.
Stage 4: The Event Horizon (Systemic Failure)
You are now beyond the point of “fixing.” The old version of your character has been deleted. You are in a state of absolute, metabolic non-existence.
- Total Non-Verbalism: Speech is no longer a viable UI.
- Zero Input Tolerance: Even a single light source or a low-volume sound triggers a survival-level panic response.
- The Identity Reset: You no longer know who the “mask” was. You are just raw, unfiltered signal in a dark room.
Re-Engineering the Map
Leviticus: Listen, it’s not hard to understand. If you keep redlining your system, it’s going to break. It’s not rocket appliances.
If you are in Stages 1 or 2, your only move is Strategic Resignation. Resign from the expectations of the neurotypical simulation. If you’re in Stage 3 or 4, you are no longer the one in control. The machine is in emergency recovery mode. Do not fight the machine.
In the next guide, we’ll look at the Treatment Options for transmuting this failure back into usable energy. Get to the point or get out of the way.
Machine Data:
- Burn Rate: Exponential. Stage 1 to 3 can take weeks; Stage 3 to 4 can take hours.
- Signal Quality: Degraded. Do not make major life decisions (respawns) while in Stage 3 or 4.
- Hardware Status: Critical.