A Fieldbook.
Start here · The diagnostic of fun
Is it fun? Four questions. Seconds each.
Welcome to Loudology, the study of fun.
Fun
Fun is not a property of a thing. It lives in the gap between an activity and a particular person at a particular moment. It needs a yes, it has an end, and it can't be supplied — only occasioned. You build the conditions and get out of the way.
Loudology
The study of fun. Codified, it is the practice of breaking limitations, assisted by man, machine, or both: learn the rule, then break it on purpose, and be able to say what you broke.
The diagnostic
Fun has no unit, so the reading is taken at you, not at the activity. Pick one thing you do. Set a switch for each question. When all four are set, the instrument makes the call.
The Fun Diagnostic
Standby
Set all four switches.
01
Can you put it down?
Tells you whether it is fun.
02
Does it end when the game ends?
Tells you whether it is still a game.
03
Do you know the rule you're breaking?
Tells you whether you are any good.
04
Who else is in this game, and did they say yes?
Tells you whether it is yours.
Answer for one thing at a time.
The exercise · The Playful Zoo
Just for you! We've prepared a learning activity to demonstrate:
- order
- community
- play, and
- society.
Activity 01
Did you know that a group of baboons is called a congress of baboons? Can you think of any other animal groups with funny names?
Press to initiate Loudology.
Press again to roll it back up.
Imagine a parliament of owls, playing. Imagine a conspiracy of lemurs, playing. Imagine a murder of crows, playing. Imagine an unkindness of ravens, playing. Imagine a business of ferrets, playing. Imagine a shrewdness of apes, playing. Imagine a cackle of hyenas, playing. Imagine a tower of giraffes, playing. Imagine a bloat of hippos, playing. Imagine a crash of rhinos, playing. Imagine a dazzle of zebras, playing. Imagine a flamboyance of flamingos, playing. Imagine a wisdom of wombats, playing. Imagine a smack of jellyfish, playing. Imagine a shiver of sharks, playing. Imagine a kindle of kittens, playing. Imagine a clowder of cats, playing. Imagine a skulk of foxes, playing. Imagine a cauldron of bats, playing. Imagine an exaltation of larks, playing. Imagine a murmuration of starlings, playing. Imagine a romp of otters, playing. Which one are you?
Activity 02
Read. Breathe deeply. Imagine. And if possible, laugh a little.
Every seven seconds, the words will change.
Press to begin.
Twenty-four lines, seven seconds each.
Press the button to begin.
Activity 03
Press the button to cycle through the twenty-three, one at a time. "That's Loudology." follows each one.
Press to cycle.
Twenty-three lines. Loops back to the start.
Press the button to begin.
Activity 04
Now imagine a romp of otters. Better yet, imagine otters romping. That's the difference between venery and Loudology.
The Loudometer
a romp of otters
Venery — a codified system for classifying animals, built for hunting.
Loudology — building community. Also called hunting.
Activity 05
Venery was a codified system of classifying animals for the purposes of hunting.
Loudology is a person or group trying to build a community of problem-solvers. This is also called hunting.
That's venery, a gentleman's game before gentlemen existed.
In medieval times, mastering venery was a symbol of status. In today's world, mastering Loudology is a matter of human survival.
Today: solopreneurs, leaders, and teachers hunt Loudologists without having the vocabulary to describe what is needed to optimize for immersion and engagement.
A hunt of Loudologists is a community of AI practitioners who automate all the boring stuff to save time and make room for connection, learning, and growth. Self-starters who will build their own hunt without waiting for someone to hand it over to them. A hunt of trail makers; people who build paths, not monuments to themselves.
Are you ready?
Inside the free guidebook
The exercise opens the mind to four things. The seeds go in each.
A seed is not a program. It is the smallest thing you can plant in a situation you are already in — a rule, a question, a clock — and then get out of the way. Fun is organic. You build the conditions; you do not manufacture the result.
Opening 01
Community
Twenty-three collective nouns and one question — which one are you? — and the mind is already in a group.
- Fun is care. What a joyful heart is good medicine actually means.
- Family. The room the whole book was written from.
- A hunt of Loudologists. Trail makers, not monument builders.
Opening 02
Order
Venery was a vocabulary before it was a status symbol. Rules are what let a stranger follow the game.
- The rules. Seven properties of fun, each with the one observation that would break it.
- The danger rule. Danger needs a counterforce of security or it curdles into the counterfeit.
- The instrument panel. Four questions, seconds each.
Opening 03
Play
Every animal in the Zoo is doing the same thing. Nobody had to teach them. Nobody improved on it.
- Bored people do bad things. Boredom as raw material. A rock, a utility shack, a rule nobody wrote down.
- More time is fun. Less time is fun. Two clocks, one mechanism.
- Can you put it down? The one test that disqualifies most of what is for sale.
Opening 04
Society
Solopreneurs, leaders, and teachers are hunting without the vocabulary. The vocabulary is the seed.
- School and work. The error that proves the mastery; the boring job with the most room in it.
- Know your enemy. Force, the counterfeit, and the phobomonger.
- Technophobia is boring. That is its biggest threat — and the reason this guidebook is free.
Know your enemy · Society
Technophobia is boring. That is its biggest threat.
Fun has two old enemies and one new one. Force removes your yes and everyone can see it. The counterfeit manufactures a yes with lights and near-misses, and nobody can. The third one is the phobomonger — the voice that manufactures a no, that tells you the new tool is a trap, that keeps you on the sidelines and sells you the seat.
You cannot sell a guide to surviving the machine to someone who is happily taking the engine apart for fun. That is the whole strategy, and it is the reason this guidebook is free.
| The attack | Manners | |
|---|---|---|
| Force | Removes the yes. Mandatory fun. A leaderboard your manager can see. | None. Everyone can see it. |
| The counterfeit | Manufactures a yes. Variable reward. The feed that never ends. | Excellent. Nobody can see it. |
| The phobomonger | Manufactures a no. Fear as a business model. | Excellent. Dressed as protection. |
The full book · Funvana
The seeds tell you where to plant. The book maps the galaxy.
Funvana is the destination — not the transit state where you are moving fast and feeling something, but the place where the flow holds. The full edition is the map: mind, body and spirit; how the system works; how it worked for four thousand years; and where it goes from here. With a man who cannot laugh to hold the instrument.
Region one
The guidebook. The free edition, in full — the exercise and the seeds.
Region two
Mind · Body · Spirit. Brain functions and hormones. The body as the first instrument. Fun as divine wisdom.
Region three
How the system works. The Director of Fun. Fun and games. Teaching fun. The limitations. The price of admission.
Region four
How it worked, and where it goes. The flat ball. The science of fun. The commercial evolution of fun. The empty room.
Get the free guidebook
Join the hunt.
The free edition, delivered once. No streak. No sequence. You can put it down.
Send me the guidebook
One email with the download. That is the whole transaction.
