| 1 | Mapping Your Biological Hardware | What does my body do automatically? | Body signal awareness | body signal, telemetry, baseline, sensation | Name three automatic things your body does that you do not consciously control | Start a Telemetry Log -- note one body signal you noticed today |
| 2 | Physical Inputs and Processing Capacity | How do sleep, hunger, and sensory load change how I think? | State awareness | processing capacity, inputs, alertness, depletion | Describe how your thinking changes when you are tired or hungry | Notice your processing capacity at three different times of day |
| 3 | The Brain's Emergency Override | What is the amygdala hijack and what triggers it? | Reactivity recognition | amygdala hijack, reactive state, trigger, state change | Describe the difference between your thinking in calm vs. reactive mode | Map your personal triggers -- what situations tend to flip the switch? |
| 4 | Reading Your Own Early Warning Signs | What signals appear before I lose control? | Early warning detection | early warning sign, Telemetry Log, baseline, escalation | Name two early warning signs that appear before you become fully reactive | Review your Telemetry Log -- what patterns do you notice? |
| 5 | The Software Bugs of the Mind | What are cognitive distortions? | Cognitive distortion identification | cognitive distortion, catastrophizing, all-or-nothing, mind-reading | Name three cognitive distortions and give a fictional example of each | Find a fictional character in a book or show who demonstrates a cognitive distortion |
| 6 | When the Brain Constructs Bad Stories | How does the brain fill in gaps with narratives? | Narrative analysis | narrative, assumption, story generator, gap-filling | Describe the difference between an observation and a story built around it | Track one situation today where you notice your brain constructing a story |
| 7 | Faulty Logic Loops and How to Spot Them | How do catastrophic thinking spirals work? | Loop-breaking skills | catastrophic thinking, feedback loop, loop-breaker, escalation | Describe the loop-breaker move in your own words | Find a fictional example of a catastrophic thinking spiral |
| 8 | Separating Signal from Narrative Noise | How do I separate what actually happened from what I made it mean? | Input/Output Audit | signal, narrative noise, Input/Output Audit, fact vs. story | Complete one Input/Output Audit on a fictional scenario | Apply the audit to one real (or fictionalized) situation from this week |
| 9 | How Relationships Build and Spend Capital | What is social capital and how does it work? | Trust ledger analysis | social capital, trust ledger, deposit, withdrawal, balance | Name three deposits and three withdrawals in a fictional relationship | Map the trust balance in one important relationship in your life (kept private) |
| 10 | Interface Specs That Protect the System | What are boundaries and how do they work? | Boundary-setting skills | boundary, interface specification, limit, communication | Describe a boundary as an "interface spec" in your own words | Draft one boundary statement using "when...I need..." format |
| 11 | Consistency, Transparency, and High-Bandwidth Connections | Why does consistency build trust? | Reliability analysis | consistency, transparency, reliability, high-bandwidth, trust | Why does unreliable behavior drain a relationship faster than absence? | Identify one relationship where inconsistency has caused friction |
| 12 | The Alignment Problem in Groups | How do group pressures work? | Peer pressure analysis | alignment problem, peer pressure, group norms, social cost | Describe a situation where group pressure and personal values conflict | Find a fictional or historical example of someone who held ground against group pressure |
| 13 | Corrupt Data Transmission and Its Ripple Effects | How do rumors spread and distort? | Rumor propagation analysis | signal corruption, rumor, verification protocol, ripple effect | What makes rumors spread faster than corrections? | Track a rumor (fictional) through a short chain and see how it changes |
| 14 | Iterated Games and Mutual Support | Why is long-run cooperation often better than short-run winning? | Cooperation analysis | iterated game, mutual support, cooperation, long-run payoff | What is the "hidden variable" that changes the game when you have to play repeatedly? | Research the Prisoner's Dilemma and how iterated play changes the outcome |
| 15 | Diagnosing a Recurring Social Problem | What is the root cause of a recurring friction? | Root cause analysis | friction point, 5 Whys, root cause, system mismatch | Complete the 5 Whys for one fictional recurring social friction | Apply the 5 Whys to one real friction in your life (kept private) |
| 16 | Engineering an Explicit Communication Protocol | How do I design a protocol for a recurring friction? | Protocol design | protocol, trigger, default response, explicit communication | Draft your protocol: Trigger -- Default -- Check | Test your protocol draft with a trusted adult before deployment |
| 17 | Running the Experiment in the Real World | What actually happens when I run my protocol? | Experimental deployment | deployment, data, observation, iteration | What did you observe during the deployment? What worked and what did not? | Review your protocol at the midpoint -- what needs to change? |
| 18 | Post-Mortem, Patch Notes, and Next Version | What did I learn about how I operate socially? | Retrospective and synthesis | retrospective, patch notes, version 2.0, reflection | Describe one thing you would change in your protocol v2.0 | Present your protocol and what you learned to one trusted adult |
| Opt. 1 | Advanced Regulation Techniques | What tools help when standard regulation is not enough? | Advanced regulation skills | box breathing, somatic grounding, progressive muscle relaxation | Describe one regulation technique and when you would use it | Practice one technique daily for one week and note the effects |
| Opt. 2 | Complex Group Dynamics and Network Theory | How do information and influence travel through social networks? | Network analysis | network topology, in-group, out-group, cascade, influence | What is an information cascade and why can it lead to bad group decisions? | Research one real-world example of a social cascade |