the closed-looplibidinal economy

a framework for the dynamics of attention under platform capture

what this is

Platforms that learn from your engagement and adjust what they deliver in response form a closed loop. This document specifies the loop's architecture, what it forecloses, and what kinds of intervention remain formally distinct under it — coupled to a mathematical exposition that states the structure refusably and a set of interactive visualizations that make the structure legible.

engagement
stimulus
user
platform
the central image · no exogenous channel

three paths through the material

First-time reader: start with the argument — the framework laid out in prose. The apparatus is for readers who want the proofs; the dynamics for those who want the mechanisms running.

  1. 01.the argument

    eight load-bearing moves — the framework in prose, each cross-linked to the result that authorizes it

  2. 02.the apparatus

    the formal companion — thirteen sections, fifteen results, what makes the prose refusable

  3. 03.the dynamics

    twelve interactive plates — the mechanisms made operable

“The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying glass.”
— Adorno, Minima Moralia §50

A. Selimović, Ph.D. — Blacksburg, Virginia — 2026