First-Person and Third-Person Experiences in the Geometry of Reality

Sungchul Ji, Ph.D. (with ChatGPT assistance)
Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Cell Biology
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

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Introduction

One of the deepest challenges across philosophy, science, and policy is how to reconcile the first-person (1pp) perspective of lived experience with the third-person (3pp) perspective of objective science. Too often these are cast as opposites, leading to what I have called a False Disjunction Bias (FDB) — the mistaken assumption that only one perspective can be valid.

Both my Geometry of Reality framework [1] and Paul Werbos’s recent reflections [2] on 1pp vs. 3pp highlight that the truth lies not in opposition but in commutativity and complementarity.

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The Geometry of Reality: Three Commutative Relations

In the Geometry of Reality (Figure 1), three IRVSE (Iterative Reproduction with Variation and Selection by Environment) [1] processes are represented:

• IRVSE(1): Natural Process

• IRVSE(2): Mental Process

• IRVSE(3): Self-Knowing

These give rise to three commutative relations:

1) IRVSE(2) → IRVSE(1) = IRVSE(3)
→ Convergence on Objective Reality (3pp).

2) L·IRVSE(3) → IRVSE(1)
→ Convergence on Subjective Reality (1pp).

3) (3pp → 1pp) = GOR Space
→ Following the third-person perspective with the first-person perspective yields the integrated 3D Geometry of Reality (Energy–Information–Consciousness/Spirit).

Together, these three relations form a tri-commutative system: different routes commute to the same truths, but at different levels of integration — objective, subjective, and holistic.

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Paul Werbos: 1pp and 3pp in Practice

Paul Werbos captured the same duality in practical terms when he wrote [2]:

“Above all, to make full use of our intelligence in developing such strategies we need to use and integrate BOTH what Ram calls the 1pp direct information and the very best new 3pp hard core science.”

For Werbos, policy and science must draw upon both direct lived knowledge (1pp) and hard-core empirical knowledge (3pp). His framing resonates perfectly with the Geometry of Reality: it is not either/or, but both/and.

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Avoiding the False Disjunction

The addition of the third commutative relation is crucial. Without it, one might still see 1pp and 3pp as locked in opposition. But the tri-commutative system shows that:

• 1pp and 3pp are coordinates, not contradictions.

• Their interplay generates the 3D integrated space of Reality (GOR).

• False disjunction dissolves when we see the closure of all three commutative relations.

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Conclusion

The lesson is clear: the duality of first-person and third-person experience is not a contradiction but a false disjunction.

• Objective Reality (3pp),

• Subjective Reality (1pp), and

• Integrated Reality (GOR space)

are three valid outcomes of commutative processes. Together they define the geometry of knowing itself.

Figure 2. The three commutative relations in the Geometry of Reality

In Werbos’s terms, the path forward in science, health, and policy is to weave together 1pp and 3pp into an integrated consilient intelligence. In the terms of the Geometry of Reality, this means living and thinking within the tri-commutative space of Reality itself.

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📌 Figure 1. Geometry of Reality with three commutative relations: (1) IRVSE(2) → IRVSE(1) = IRVSE(3) (Objective Reality, 3pp), (2) L·IRVSE(3) → IRVSE(1) (Subjective Reality, 1pp), and (3) 3pp → 1pp = GOR (Integrated Reality, triadic space of Energy–Information–Consciousness/Spirit).

References:

[1] Ji, S. (2025). Geometry of Reality. https://622622.substack.com/p/geometry-of-reality
[2] Werbos, P. (2025). Learning more things I wish trump and rfk knew about health. SBoC-F posted on August 31, 2025.