Orientation
What this site is, and how to approach it
What Anomics Is
Anomics is a diagnostic project about a specific kind of modern failure.
Not failure caused by bad people.
Not failure caused by confusion or ignorance.
Not failure caused by the absence of rules.
Anomics studies what happens when systems continue to function—often politely, sincerely, and at great effort—while losing the ability to finish things.
Decisions get made, but they don’t bind.
Processes run, but they don’t conclude.
Time passes, but obligations don’t discharge.
The result is a form of exhaustion that feels personal, even when it isn’t.
The Starting Observation
Many parts of modern life feel strangely expensive.
Not mainly in money, but in:
- attention
- interpretation
- vigilance
- emotional and moral effort
People keep participating.
Rules remain visible.
Standards are explicit.
Intentions are often sincere.
And yet outcomes remain unstable.
Anomics begins from a simple question:
Why does coordination keep failing even when no one is trying to fail?
What This Project Is Not Doing
Anomics does not explain:
- personality types
- motivation
- trauma
- moral decline
- generational weakness
- bad faith
It does not offer:
- self-help
- therapy
- political programs
- institutional reform plans
Those approaches assume the problem lives inside people or beliefs.
This project assumes the problem lives in structure.
The Core Idea
Many modern systems still run—but no longer settle.
They preserve:
- participation
- procedure
- communication
- evaluation
- memory
While losing:
- binding decisions
- terminal outcomes
- authorized endings
When settlement fails, responsibility doesn’t disappear.
It moves—onto individuals.
People become responsible for managing:
- interpretation
- timing
- risk
- meaning
- when (or whether) things are “over”
Exhaustion is not a mistake in this environment.
It is a rational response.
How the Essays Fit Together
This site is not meant to be read all at once.
Different pages do different work.
The Keystone
Settlement Failure : Why Modern Systems Can Work Perfectly and Still Never Finish
The Framework
Explains the underlying analytic structure:
binding, settlement, non-settlement, and negative design systems.
Read this when you want the grammar of the project.
The Core Essays
Each isolates one failure mechanism:
- authority without binding
- procedure without verdict
- memory without forgetting
- instruments that avoid closure
- evaluation that never resolves
These essays are modular. You do not need to agree with all of them to understand any one.
The Application Essays and Books
These apply the same framework to specific domains:
dating, truth, time, work, evaluation, moral exhaustion.
They are not separate theories.
They are case studies using the same lens.
How to Read This Site
You do not need background theory to begin.
If you want a fast orientation:
How to Read Anomics
Anomics — A Summary
If you want the core argument:
Framework
the core essay sequence
If you want to test the idea against lived experience:
start with Life in Anomie or Excellence Without Escape
There is no required order beyond what helps you stay oriented.
Why This Exists
Anomics exists to make one thing clear:
Some forms of exhaustion, resentment, and moral strain are not personal failures, and not cultural decay.
They are the predictable result of systems that demand continuous participation while preventing settlement.
If that claim is wrong, it should fail on its structure.
If it is right, it should be legible without persuasion.
This site exists to make that evaluation possible.
If modern life feels hard to finish, this project asks what kind of systems make that true.