External Variables of Logic

The chaotic, real-world factors that corrupt pure logical reasoning when it leaves the textbook and enters human brains. These are the cognitive biases, emotional states, social pressures, and physical limitations that ensure no actual human being ever reasons with perfect formal logic. You might know that A implies B, but if B triggers your childhood trauma, your brain will find seventeen creative ways to deny the implication. External Variables are why logic puzzles are easy and real arguments are impossible—because real arguments involve sleep deprivation, ego, and that thing your dad said in 1998.

External Variables of Logic "In theory, I should have accepted his apology and moved on. But the External Variables of Logic—namely, the memory of every time he'd done this before—made that rationally optimal choice emotionally impossible."

by Dumu The Void February 23, 2026