Malcolm Ocean's roamblog

October 20th, 2025

edited 2025-10-20 · open in Roam
  • 3 steps to empowered dialogue is a protocol based on NNTD
    • (and which to at least some extent I think you need to grok the core insight of NNTD in order to follow; it isn't easy to just simulate. although maybe for easier/simpler things, just like "oh, you're worried about being blamed? that makes sense, but I definitely don't see this as your fault. I just want you to know XYZ, and do with that info what you will")
    • in that sense, it's a... protocol with a meta-protocol step in it
  • trust & faith terminology, jargon, definitions
    • true = if you point your learning apparatus at it, you'll find it (given skill, time, etc)
    • truth
    • trust, n
    • trust, v
    • non-naive trust
    • forced trust
    • stable
    • stabilizable
    • stabilize
      • ~= choose, commit to, adopt faith in
      • often when people use "trust" in the imperative, they are actually trying to say this
      • but it has huge implications
      • ah yeah but this is also kind of the unquestioned attitude!
    • faith, n
      • "suppose someone has stabilized a faith"
      • "key features of their faith"
    • [some good usage examples in NNTD Virality Squad doc - gonna pull it out tho]
  • neologism — fand, v: give it a go
    • it's "try" without the effort/commitment
    • = "give it a go"
    • fake etymology:
      • = "F(uckaround)AND"
    • actual etymology: middle english!
      • “to try, attempt, tempt, test, examine, explore, search out, seek to know, experience, visit”
        • "seek to know"! so good
      • en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fand
      • technically a relogism, not a neologism: it's a word from middle english!
        • revival / archaeological neologism
    • (private claude chat where I was ideating)
    • (huh, "fend" "find" "fund" (all infinitive verbs) & "fond"/"fawned" (different a la cot/caught!) "fiend", "finned", "found", "feigned", "phoned"... massive minimal set!)
      • beet, bit, bait, bet, bat, bite, bot, bought, boat, but, boot, bout
    • re grammar: "I'll fand eating it" vs "I'll fand to eat it"
      • me:
        • huh, "try" has this property where it composes with other words
        • "I'm gonna try eating this" -> "I'm gonna fand eating this"
        • "I'm gonna fand going for a walk"
        • is this a special thing in english grammar, or do all verbs technically have this option they just don't make much sense
      • claude
        • This is a really interesting grammatical question! Let me think through it...
        • "Try" takes a gerund or infinitive complement:
          • "try eating this" / "try to eat this"
          • "fand eating this" / "fand to eat this" (?)
        • Not all verbs can do this. Compare:
          • "I enjoy eating" ✓ but "I enjoy to eat" ✗
          • "I want to eat" ✓ but "I want eating" ✗
          • "I like eating/to eat" ✓ (both work!)
        • The verbs that take these complements are often:
          • Aspectual: start, stop, finish, continue + gerund
          • Modal-ish: want, need, hope + infinitive
          • Attitude/attempt: try, like, love, hate + both
          • Perception: see, watch, hear + bare infinitive or gerund
        • "Try" is in a special class of verbs that can take both forms, and there's actually a semantic difference:
          • "try eating vegetables" = experiment with vegetable-eating as a practice
          • "try to eat vegetables" = make an effort to eat vegetables
        • For "fand" to work naturally, it should probably pattern like "try" - taking both gerunds and infinitives.
        • "I'll fand eating it" - explore the experience
          "I'll fand to fix it" - hmm, this feels slightly less natural?
        • Maybe "fand" works best with gerunds, since it's more about experiencing the doing than attempting toward a goal?
      • M
        • that does feel right! and gets at some of the existing range in "try"'s connotations.
        • maybe makes sense to start there. but it would also be cool connote the towardsness and purposefulness of "I'll fand to fix it" without any of the effort!
      • Claude
        • Yes! That's a really nice distinction to tease out:
        • "I'll fand eating it" - exploratory experience, see how it goes
          "I'll fand to fix it" - I have a goal/direction, but I'm not promising effort or success
        • The second one captures something like "I'll point myself at fixing it and see what happens" - there's intentionality and direction, but not striving.
        • This is actually a subtle thing "try" does that gets muddled:
          • "I'll try eating healthier" (experiment/explore)
          • "I'll try to fix it" (effort toward goal)
          • But also sometimes: "I'll try to fix it" (casual, like "I'll take a crack at it")
        • If "fand" could cleanly take both forms:
          • fand + gerund = exploratory engagement
          • fand + infinitive = goal-directed but non-effortful attempt
        • That would be incredibly useful! It separates:
          • The experiential vs purposeful axis
          • While keeping both firmly in the "no promises about effort" zone
        • So "I'll fand to fix it" means: "I have the goal of fixing it in mind, I'll point myself at it, we'll see what happens" - purposeful but not straining.
        • Does that capture what you want?