# About the Author My name is Tutone Ohévalon (pronounced TOO-tone o-HEH-vuh-lahn). I have a Bachelor’s degree in Fiction from Emory. At the time of this writing, I’m employed as a digital marketer at a nonprofit, where I support their website with publication and give strategic advice that relates to UX and SEO. My interests include philosophy, literature, music theory, video games, meditation, and artificial intelligence. Well before Phainotaxis was ever conceived, I spent my adulthood testing the shape of experience and meaning. It has been a life of side quests, mostly reading philosophy, practicing meditation, and other spiritual exercises. Some of the primary literary influences I bring to Phainotaxis include Jacques Derrida, Aldous Huxley, Jean-Paul Sartre, Kurt Vonnegut, Alan Watts, and Robert Anton Wilson. ## Why Phainotaxis? Phainotaxis is the name given to a family of ideas I developed out of conversations with an AI thinking partner. First there was Erosyntax, then proper-modes and representational modalities. So why am I investing my time in this? One of the most persistent, fundamental tensions in both public and specialized discourse involves the dispute over models of "reality." That is, which phenomena (but truthfully, representations) count as ethically valid sites of engagement. From most perspectives, whatever is deemed superior is given a positive normative label like "real" while everything else is dismissed as foolish, fake, imaginary, or unnatural. Ironically, humanity seems to be the only source of these ideas. Rather than arguing for a new metaphysics, I intend to develop a descriptive model of perspective, representation, and experience in an attempt to restore the dignity of concern for these "unreals." The will to dream and manufacture are inescapable dimensions of human life. I wish to speak authentically about these under-appreciated faculties of ours, and fill a rhetorical gap left by artists, fantasizers, creators, and gamers who, in my opinion, have articulated these things poorly. While this may read as "anti-truth" for some, to pretend these things do not partake of reality I find to be, ironically, rather unrealistic. As indicated, Phainotaxis developed partly through regular conversations with an LLM, a necessity, I believe for anyone who wishes to examine the tech. All ideas, judgments, and final editorial choices on this site are my own. This site is a living workshop. Many of its pages are provisional notes and sketches. There will be many unresolved questions. Everything here should be read as part of an ongoing process of discovery. Terms will change, arguments will sharpen, and structures will be revised as the framework matures. Phainotaxis develops through self-reflection, curiosity, and playfulness. ## Resources For a list of key terms, see [[Glossary]]. Phainotaxis has several verification criteria including the eight pillars of [[Erosyntax]].