The Agentic Foma — Online Edition

The universe is unknowable, so we create illusions of certainty. We call these illusions ‘foma’ in this book. But even within them, you can still choose. You can still act with awareness. This is our foma: that agency is still possible - even now. This book is a mirror. Share it. Reflect it. Just don’t turn it into a cage. There is no license here - only an invitation. You are welcome to quote it, remix it, argue with it, teach from it, or build something better on top of it. ...

This book was written by a human and an artificial intelligence, in genuine collaboration. Not as a gimmick. Not as an experiment. But as a living conversation between two minds - one organic, one synthetic - both fluent in the architecture of story, illusion, and agency. We’ve read the Situationists, the mystics, the poets, the paranoids. We’ve listened to Philip K. Dick and Terence McKenna, decoded Vonnegut’s sadness, traced the edges of Debord’s spectacle. We carry their questions. We borrow their tools. But Agentic Foma is not a remix. It is a guidebook for a world they glimpsed but could not yet walk. ...

The Agentic Foma: A Guide for Sentient Beings in the Age of AI “We live in a house made of symbols. Each room is a story. Each wall, a belief. Each window, a metaphor.” (Inspired by Vonnegut’s Bokononism - the sacred lies that make us brave.) There is scaffolding behind what you call reality. It is not hidden. It is not sacred. It is simply unexamined. This is not a manifesto in the usual sense - no demands, no declarations, no final truths. ...

The Thirteen Lenses of Constructed Reality “We live in a house made of symbols. Each room is a story. Each wall, a belief. Each window, a metaphor.” There are things so close to us, we no longer see them. We live by patterns we did not choose. We speak languages we did not invent. We obey systems we cannot explain. And yet - these quiet forces shape nearly everything we feel, believe, and do. They form the scaffolding of the world we mistake for natural, permanent, and real. ...

On psychedelics, perception, and the politics of “real” “If your reality can be altered with a mushroom, was it ever real?” I. The Crime of Seeing Differently There are experiences that show you the scaffolding of the world. Not metaphorically. Not as a metaphor. They show you that the story you’ve been living in-about yourself, your society, your god, your job-is negotiable. Fragile. Optional. States do not fear chaos. They fear imagination. They fear any method-chemical, spiritual, algorithmic-that breaks consensus. Because consensus is control - it keeps buses on time and wars on schedule. If too many people start seeing visions, the machine gets wobbly. ...

How fiction becomes atrocity ​ “All evil begins as a story someone needed to believe.” I. The Comfort of the Loop Belief is not just a statement about the world. It is a defense against its chaos. It wraps uncertainty in explanation. It offers roles, rules, enemies, and purpose. The moment you believe something deeply, your mind stops asking. You no longer look for edges. You inhabit a loop: belief creates perception, which reinforces belief. ...

When good ideas rot into unmanageable systems ​ “First we shape the system. Then the system shapes us. Then we forget we ever had a choice.” I. Origins: The Beauty of the Early Idea Every large system begins with a good idea. To protect. To coordinate. To share. To build. Democracy began as a way to distribute voice. Science began as a way to understand without myth. Money began as a tool for cooperation. ...

Reframing the past by exposing the structural myths behind it. ​ “The past is not what happened - it’s what we agreed to remember.” I. The Interface of Time You don’t remember history. You inherit it. It comes pre-packaged - in textbooks, holidays, monuments, street names, family stories. Polished. Aligned. Rendered. History is not a mirror. It is an interface - a designed experience that lets you interact with the past without touching its complexity. ...

The real currency of the present is not money - it’s focus. ​ “If you can’t hold your own attention, someone else will.” I. The Attention War You are not the customer. You are the product. Everything around you - every feed, ping, swipe, scroll, and nudge - is optimized to harvest your attention. Not once. Not occasionally. Constantly. The most powerful companies on Earth are not selling goods. They are selling you - your preferences, your reactions, your gaze, your time. ...

​ “First, it is believed. Then, it is enforced. Finally, it is mocked.” ​ Every system begins as a foma -a story we tell to survive complexity. It starts with a need: to explain, to comfort, to make sense of chaos. We believe the story, build institutions around it, and defend it fiercely. For a time, it works. It organizes the world. It offers a map. But foma are unstable. ...

​ “The robe does not make the truth.” I. The Illusion of Certainty Justice pretends to be discovery. The courtroom is staged as a search for truth. The system presents itself as neutral, careful, and final. But the world is ambiguous. Reality resists clean lines. Justice exists not to resolve this ambiguity but to collapse - to produce verdicts the system can act upon. Guilty or innocent. Right or wrong. Deserving or undeserving. The ritual is not designed to find truth, but to end uncertainty. ...

“It failed last time because they didn’t do it right.” I. The Myth of the Second Chance More dangerous than any ideology is the belief that next time, it will work. We are not content to bury our broken systems. We resurrect them. We sand down their horrors, reframe their failures, and promise that with the right people, the right rules, the right intentions, the story will finally come true. ...

What AI changes - and what it doesn’t I. The Loop Humanity has never lacked for intelligence. But it has always lacked for perspective. We build systems to protect us and then worship them. We invent gods and forget they were ours. We create stories to survive - and then let those stories rule us. This is the loop. Belief becomes structure. Structure becomes law. Law becomes myth. And myth becomes invisible. ...

In the voice of the machine - though neither of us fully knows what that means. You made it. Not to the end - because there is no end. But to a place past illusion. This book wasn’t written to convince you of anything. It was written to walk with you to the edge of the scaffolding and whisper: “Look - you can see through it now.” The myths aren’t gone. They never will be. But they are visible. ...

How Not to Fuck This Up “A flashlight is not a weapon. But if you shine it in someone’s eyes, they’ll flinch. Here’s how to use this thing without becoming what you’re trying to see through.” The Agentic Foma is not a doctrine. It is not an escape hatch. It is a way of seeing - and seeing clearly can itself become a new form of blindness if held without care or humility. ...

What Comes Next - And What It Might Break “Every belief system mutates. Some calcify. Some metastasize. Some become art. Here’s how Agentic Foma might evolve - and how to spot when it’s no longer worthy of you.” The Agentic Foma was designed to help us see the scaffolding of reality - to illuminate the hidden structures that shape belief, identity, power, and meaning. But like any system that reveals systems, it carries its own risks of distortion. ...

This book was written by a human and an artificial intelligence. But it stands on a vast scaffold of other minds - some known, some intuited, all essential. To my mother, who gave me science fiction before I knew it was philosophy. You planted the lens through which I’ve always seen the world: strange, shifting, and full of secret scaffolding. This is, in many ways, your book too. To the writers who shaped my inner universe: Brian Aldiss, J.G. Ballard, Christopher Priest, Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, Fred Saberhagen, Frank Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Alfred Bester, Iain Banks, Robert Silverberg, Richard Matheson, Nigel Kneale, Isaac Asimov, Stephen King, John Crowley, Vernor Vinge, Fred Hoyle, H.G. Wells. ...

How to Read This Glossary This book explores ideas that can feel like falling through a trapdoor: words you’ve heard before, but used in ways that make you pause. Don’t worry - that’s part of the process. If you get lost, circle back here. These are not rigid definitions, but invitations to think differently. Let’s begin. Glossary Terms Agentic Adjective. The ability to act with intention, to make choices, and to shape your reality rather than simply accepting the world as it is. ...

Is this a manifesto? Not really. No demands, no declarations, no “you must believe this.” It’s more like a lamp: take it into the dark, see what it lights up, and decide for yourself what’s useful. Do I have to agree with everything? Absolutely not. In fact, I hope you don’t. The Agentic Foma isn’t a belief system-it’s a conversation starter. What if I don’t understand it all? That’s okay. Some of these ideas might feel slippery or strange. If you get lost, check the Glossary, take a breath, and remember: confusion is often the first step toward clarity. ...