How Premature Compression in a High-Dimensional World Quietly Stops Action
There is a recurring pattern occurred for me: sometimes I can’t act because I expect too much from the outcome; while sometimes I can’t act because I expect failure in advance.
In both cases, action stops.
I want to figure out how action happens naturally with less pain. Here are some personal thoughts. In case they’re useful.
Theorems
Rule 1 — In most situations, humans do not act randomly. They choose among options with perceivable differences.
Rule 2 — Humans cannot directly access future outcomes. All action is based on internal representations: beliefs, expectations, and models.
When Action Becomes Impossible and… possible
Below are internal assumptions that suppress action — and their action-enabling alternatives.
A1
Blocking assumption:
Action reveals one’s true ability and value. One action prints who I am.
Enabling assumption:
Action is a way to gather information about how the world responds.
Results are data, not verdicts on identity.
A2
Blocking assumption:
A good action should move directly toward the final goal.
Tentative steps, ambiguity, or half-finished work equal failure.
Enabling assumption:
An action only needs to reduce one dimension of uncertainty.
A3
Blocking assumption:
Feeling difficulty means “I’m not suited for this” or “this path is wrong.”
Enabling assumption:
Difficulty means the current model lacks precision.
I can think or act to collect information and observe how the world responds.
A4
Blocking assumption:
If something isn’t worth going all-in or doesn’t produce immediate value, it’s not worth doing.
Enabling assumption:
Value can be settled later.
I retain freedom to act without immediate commitment.
A5
Blocking assumption:
I should accurately judge whether I can succeed in advance.
This requires a high-precision self-model and world-model.
During youth or exploration, this requirement halts almost all action.
Enabling assumption:
I only need to judge whether this step would irreversibly ruin the situation.
If the downside is bearable, action is allowed.
A6
Blocking assumption:
Action must produce immediate, clear positive feedback.
Enabling assumption:
Action only needs to increase information.
Accurate negative feedback is still information gain and reduces uncertainty.
Identity That Blocks vs. Identity That Moves
Blocking identity (I1):
“I am someone who should always judge correctly — about value, direction, and outcomes.
Misjudgment damages my identity.”
Enabling identity (I1’):
“I calibrate judgment through action.”
Judgment is a plastic skill, not an identity or a finished structure.
Acting under uncertainty is a human capability, not a flaw.
Compression vs. Multidimensional Reality
“The voice in the head that blocks action” is a form of violent compression.
It compresses a high-dimensional, continuous, time-dependent generative process
into low-dimensional, discrete, static labels or narratives.
Stories, autobiographies, and media reports share the same hidden assumption:
that the world is low-dimensional, causality is linear, and outcomes are easily attributable.
Reality is not.
Reality is high-dimensional, causality is networked, and outcomes are not immediately legible.
Narratives compress years of fragmented, uncertain actions into smooth arcs.
This is a property of storytelling — not how action actually unfolds.
When narrative exposure exceeds lived experience, people form distorted causal models.
Action becomes expensive:
it must prove identity, accumulate cleanly, succeed quickly, and receive feedback fast.
This makes action rare.
Humans are under-trained in the ability to act, sample, err, and discard while remaining inside uncertainty, high dimensionality, and long feedback loops.
Unable to tolerate uncertainty, people escape it in a foolish way:
by prematurely compressing it.
They fill cognitive gaps with borrowed identities, narratives, and meanings —
unknown who authored them — and use brittle certainties to confront a complex world.
This harms both the person and reality.
Wisdom is simple:
identify actions that are beneficial to oneself or the world — and take them.
Action is not for proof.
Action is for information.