Deepening the Logic: Linguistics, Inversion, and the NOT Operator

Where language meets mathematics, and design meets systems change.

At the heart of the framework lies a deceptively simple idea: the NOT operator—the act of turning something into its structural opposite. This is where deep, maximal change begins. 

We are currently developing a research stream and supporting tool that explores how this operator—already central to logic and mathematics—can be further grounded in linguistics and social systems.  

Our primary source of exploration has been WordNet, the Princeton University lexical database. WordNet is a map of conceptual relationships between words—organized not just by meaning, but by structure. Synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms (parts of a whole), meronyms (wholes that include parts), and more. 

When viewed through the lens of the Vacation Logic framework, these relationships mirror our three Operators of Change:

  • Is ↔ Isn’t → captured by antonyms, negatives, contradictions

  • Whole ↔ Part → mapped through meronymy and holonymy

  • Lots ↔ Little → surfaced in gradable adjectives and intensifiers

    And underneath it all? The essence-manifestation distinction—what something is, and how it shows up—is woven through WordNet’s structure, too. 

This isn’t coincidence. It’s a seam between language, logic, and design—and we believe it’s a seam worth pulling on.

What we are building

We’re prototyping a tool that draws on the WordNet database and uses machine learning and AI to help users of Vacation Logic:

  • Define the essences in their current reality

  • Explore a structured range of manifestations

  • Rapidly generate inversions using linguistic patterns

  • Expand their ability to think in complements—not just contrasts

It’s called insidetheuniverses.com

The goal is to make the framework more accessible, more generative, and more grounded in how we already think and speak—so that radical systems change becomes more usable.

What we are looking for

We’re opening up this line of research and tooling to collaborators and funders who see what we see:

That the problems we face today are systemic, not symptomatic— and that solving them requires different logics, not just better solutions.

If you’re a:

  • Researcher exploring the intersections of linguistics, systems theory, or complexity

  • Funder interested in pre-competitive infrastructure for deep systems change

  • Innovator facing a challenge that defies optimization

  • Technologist or builder ready to work at the level of meaning and logic

—we’d love to talk.

Let’s Rethink the Logic of Change

 Get in touch to explore funding, collaboration, or field-testing opportunities.

This is still in development.

But then again, so is the future.