# regret (emotional)

A self-model comparing the path taken against a parameter whose window included another path that was possible but not taken.

- Computed level: L16 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: emotional  ·  Arena: self-model

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [against](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-against.opposition), [compare](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-compare.relation), [include](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-include.addition), [possible](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-possible.potential), [self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self.personal), [take](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-take.acquisition)

**Through:** The self-model compares two possible paths within a parameter's range, one taken and one not, via a relation of opposition, producing awareness of a missed alternative the self could have acquired.

**Novel properties:**
- awareness of missed alternatives
- self-directed evaluation of past options
- emotional weight of counterfactual comparison

## Examples
- In 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy after holding mortgage-backed securities that dropped to near-zero value. *(economics)*
- The Mars Climate Orbiter burned up in 1999 because engineers failed to convert pounds-force to newtons in trajectory calculations. *(engineering)*
- In 1962, the New York Yankees chose not to start pitcher Ralph Terry in Game 7 of the World Series, then lost by one run. *(institutions)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-regret.emotional*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-regret.emotional.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*