A Living Glossary
Last updated: January 5, 2026
Status: Public working draft (definitions will evolve as the book approaches release)
Start here
Welcome. This page is my living glossary for What Time Binds—a practical lexicon for readers who want better “maps” for a fast-changing world.
This glossary is built around one claim: when our words get sloppy, our thinking gets sloppy—and we start mistaking the map for the territory. So each entry here does three jobs:
Plain-language translation (one breath, human-sized)
Intellectual roots (what this term is built on—general semantics, cognitive science, governance-for-the-long-term, misinformation research)
Map-check prompt (a quick question you can use in real life)
Research question guiding this page:
How can a versioned, updateable glossary translate a book’s core terms into plain language, tie each term to its research lineage, and turn definitions into practical “map-checking tools” that help readers reduce mis-evaluation, resist manipulation, and make longer-horizon decisions?
How to use this glossary
Pick a mode:
Mode 1 — The Panic Button (30 seconds):
Find the feeling first (overwhelmed, outraged, confused), then name the pattern (Bandwidth Tax, Neuro-Semantic Prison, Ghost Map), then choose one tool (Critical Ignoring, Cognitive Immune System, Daxi scan).
Mode 2 — The Reality Check (90 seconds):
When something persuasive hits hard, open the relevant entry and run the Map-Check prompt before you share, react, or cement a belief.
Mode 3 — The Design Lens (5 minutes):
If you’re building a team, policy, program, or culture—use Type 1 Civilization, Temporal Branch, Time-Binding Wealth, and Ontological Sovereignty as constraints.
Quick navigation (Jump links)
A–Z Index
Clusters
Changelog
Suggest a term/refinement
A–Z Index
Clusters
Cluster 1 — The Developmental Frame
Adolescent Polycrisis • Type 1 Civilization • Korzybskian Gap
Cluster 2 — The Core Human Superpower
Time-Binding • Space-Binding • Engineer & Gardener
Cluster 3 — Brains Under Load
Bandwidth Tax • Neuro-Semantic Prison
Cluster 4 — Information Defense
Cognitive Immune System • Critical Ignoring • Ghost Maps
Cluster 5 — Leadership & Behavior
The Wolf (Zoological Error) • Educated Un-sane • Daxi
Cluster 6 — Value & Extraction
Ghost Wealth • (Time-Binding Wealth is handled inside Type 1 Civilization)
Cluster 7 — Institutions for the Long Now
Temporal Branch • Ontological Sovereignty • BoldTimers
Cluster 1 — The Developmental Frame
Adolescent Polycrisis — 🌿 Budding — v1.0
One-breath: Humanity has planet-shaping tools, and still defaults to short-horizon reflexes; crises collide and overwhelm institutions built for simpler times.
Map-check: “Am I treating this as a one-off event—or as a pattern created by tool-power outpacing social maturity?”
Roots: Polycrisis framing + developmental metaphor + long-horizon governance.
Related: Korzybskian Gap • Type 1 Civilization • Neuro-Semantic Prison
Type 1 Civilization — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: A civilization measured by stewardship across time—future generations inherit more capacity, not less.
Map-check: “Does this choice expand options for the next generation—or cash them out for today?”
Roots: Korzybski’s time-binding + modern long-term governance + moral reframing of ‘advancement.’
Related: Time-Binding • Temporal Branch • Ghost Wealth
Korzybskian Gap — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: Technology moves on an exponential curve; ethics, institutions, and nervous systems update slower—and the mismatch creates predictable damage.
Map-check: “Is this tool outrunning our ability to govern its consequences?”
Roots: General semantics + systems thinking + tech governance.
Related: Educated Un-sane • Neuro-Semantic Prison • Type 1 Civilization
Cluster 2 — The Core Human Superpower
Time-Binding — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: The human ability to carry knowledge forward—so children can start where the last generation left off.
Map-check: “Will this decision help someone start ahead of me?”
Roots: Korzybski (time-binding) + education + civic inheritance.
Related: Space-Binding • Type 1 Civilization • BoldTimers
Space-Binding — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: Present-tense survival logic: compete for territory, status, and scarce resources as if the future does not count.
Map-check: “Am I reacting to a threat to my ‘territory’—or building capacity that lasts?”
Roots: General semantics framing + behavioral ecology metaphor (used carefully).
Related: The Wolf • Ghost Wealth • Time-Binding
Engineer & Gardener — 🌿 Budding — v1.0
One-breath: Two modes we need at once: build strong structures (engineer) and tend living systems (gardener).
Map-check: “What part here needs design—and what part needs care, patience, and time?”
Roots: Practical systems work + wisdom traditions that separate making from tending.
Related: Daxi • Type 1 Civilization • Ontological Sovereignty
Cluster 3 — Brains Under Load
Bandwidth Tax — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: Scarcity (time, money, safety) consumes attention and working memory, leaving less capacity for planning and self-control.
Map-check: “Is this a competence problem—or a load problem?”
Roots: Scarcity & cognition research + behavioral economics.
Related: Daxi • Critical Ignoring • Neuro-Semantic Prison
Neuro-Semantic Prison — 🌿 Budding — v1.0
One-breath: A trap where attention systems are repeatedly triggered (fear, outrage, urgency), making calm evaluation feel unavailable.
Map-check: “Is my device feeding my judgment—or feeding my agitation?”
Roots: Attention economy research + general semantics + misinformation dynamics.
Related: Critical Ignoring • Cognitive Immune System • Ghost Maps
Cluster 4 — Information Defense (Heading 2)
Cognitive Immune System — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: Mental habits that detect manipulation early and keep bad information from settling into belief.
Map-check: “What would I believe if this message didn’t flatter me or enrage me?”
Roots: Inoculation theory + prebunking research + media literacy.
Related: Critical Ignoring • Ghost Maps • Educated Un-sane
Critical Ignoring — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: Skilled attention allocation: choosing what to ignore so your best thinking stays available.
Map-check: “Does this deserve 47 seconds of my brain?”
Roots: Critical ignoring / deliberate ignorance research + attention economics.
Related: Bandwidth Tax • Neuro-Semantic Prison • Cognitive Immune System
Ghost Maps — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: Outdated mental models that still feel familiar—so people keep steering by them even after the territory changed.
Map-check: “What assumption here used to be true, and now isn’t?”
Roots: General semantics (map/territory) + schema updating + misinformation persistence.
Related: Educated Un-sane • The Wolf • Cognitive Immune System
Cluster 5 — Leadership & Behavior
The Wolf (Zoological Error) — 🌳 Evergreen — v2.1
One-breath: Bringing dominance-and-territory reflexes into human spaces that require cooperation, foresight, and repair.
Map-check: “Is this person solving the problem—or protecting status, ego, and territory?”
Roots: General semantics warning against projection + corrected wolf research (wild packs as families).
Related: Space-Binding • Educated Un-sane • Korzybskian Gap
Boundary note: This is a metaphor for human projection. Real wolves are not the cartoon.
Educated Un-sane — 🌳 Evergreen — v1.0
One-breath: High technical ability paired with an outdated social map—so “smart” people can cause harm while feeling rational.
Map-check: “Am I using intelligence to defend a broken assumption?”
Roots: Korzybski (mis-evaluation) + systems blindness + institutional incentives.
Related: Korzybskian Gap • Ghost Maps • Ghost Wealth
Daxi — 🌿 Budding — v1.0
One-breath: The logistics-and-care role that creates slack so other people can learn, heal, and build.
Map-check: “Who is quietly removing friction so the group can function?”
Roots: Care infrastructure + scarcity/slack research + real-world coordination wisdom.
Related: Bandwidth Tax • Engineer & Gardener • BoldTimers
Boundary note: This is leadership through support and structure, not servitude.
Cluster 6 — Value & Extraction
Ghost Wealth — 🌿 Budding — v1.0
One-breath: “Wealth” that looks real on paper yet disconnects from lived well-being and future capacity.
Map-check: “If the systems that make this tradable disappeared, what value would remain?”
Roots: Critiques of financialization + political economy + long-horizon stewardship.
Related: Type 1 Civilization • Time-Binding • Educated Un-sane
Cluster 7 — Institutions for the Long Now
Ontological Sovereignty — 🌿 Budding — v1.0
One-breath: The right to define reality and identity from the inside out—rather than having it imposed by institutions, extraction, or algorithms.
Map-check: “Who benefits if I adopt their categories as ‘reality’?”
Roots: Indigenous sovereignty frameworks + data/identity governance + attention autonomy.
Related: Critical Ignoring • Neuro-Semantic Prison • Temporal Branch
Temporal Branch — 🌿 Budding — v1.0
One-breath: A dedicated future-facing institution built to represent people not yet born—and audit short-horizon decisions.
Map-check: “If the year 2100 had a vote here, what changes?”
Roots: Future generations governance (Wales, Finland, others) + institutional design.
Related: Type 1 Civilization • Time-Binding • Ghost Wealth
BoldTimers — 🌿 Budding — v1.0
One-breath: A learning-and-mentoring ecosystem for turning lived experience into contribution—time-binding in practice.
Map-check: “Where can my experience reduce the cost of learning for someone behind me?”
Roots: Community learning design + coaching practice + time-binding applied.
Related: Time-Binding • Daxi • Engineer & Gardener
Suggest a term/refinement
This glossary improves through use. If you want to propose a term, tighten a definition, or offer a better real-world example:
Leave a comment on this page, or
Reply with: TERM + what you think it should mean + why it’s useful
If I adopt your refinement, I’ll credit you in the changelog (unless you prefer anonymity).
Changelog
2026-01-05 — Living Glossary launched (v0.1).
2026-01-05 — The Wolf set to v2.1 language and boundary note included.
(Entries will include: date • term • version change • what changed • why it changed.)
Legend
🌱 Seedling — new term, wide open to revision
🌿 Budding — stable enough to use, still tightening
🌳 Evergreen — core term, changes are rare and documented