ulysses contract · precommitment
Ask PrometheusA wall a thing sets now on its own later action, put out of the reach of that later self because it models that self as wanting the wall moved.
Ulysses contract (noun) means: A wall a thing sets now on its own later action, put out of the reach of that later self because it models that self as wanting the wall moved. It emerges from set, wall, reach, later: A present self-model that reads its future reading as untrustworthy uses its current agency to remove a later option; the wall works only because the later self cannot reach it, so agency is spent to shrink agency. In the EmergenceLexicon it sits at computed level 15, chaining down to the four foundations (space, time, energy, pattern).
Examples
- In Book 12 of the Odyssey, Odysseus has his crew stop their ears with wax and bind him to the mast, ordering them to ignore his pleas while they pass the Sirens. literature
Emergence
- one self setting walls on another self across time
- reach removed on purpose to protect a goal
- a wall valued for being out of reach
Chain to foundations
full chain as text (340 steps)
- ulysses contractL15
- setL9
- wallL8
- reachL13
- laterL5
- self-modelL14
- agencyL14
- timeL0
- actionL4
- putL3
- selfL7
- modelL9
- wantL6
- motionL2
Neighborhood
Concepts that depend on this one above; what it is built from below.
Relations
| is-a | constraint.limiting | a deliberate wall whose target is one's own future self |
| contrasts-with | burned-bridges.path | a burned bridge closes a return with others; a Ulysses contract closes an option on oneself, aimed at a predicted future wanting |
| contrasts-with | pot-committed.priced-in | pot-committed walls pile up from stakes; a Ulysses contract is planned in advance as a wall |