Having an OS Symptom being what the characters think is the Problem is easy to understand, but the program mentions that the Symptom can also be a side effect. Does that mean I can say that the OS Problem of characters being afraid (not sure why that’s a gist for Desire, but it works for my story) causes them to Speculate on all kinds of bad outcomes to things they do and somehow they use the Response of Projection to solve/avoid those bad things? Or must they think that Speculation is bad and want to use Projection to stop it from happening and that opinion is what was meant by “side effect”?
I’m not sure if this will help, but I think the reason a Symptom can also be considered a side effect is because it’s always somehow motivated or influence by the Problem, i.e. a side effect of the Problem. So it’s really the author’s perspective that calls it symptom & side effect – you as the author know there is a real problem out there that’s the real source of trouble, and you know that the characters are only dealing with the symptom, as a side effect of the actual problem.
Have you seen this? Causes and Side-Effects in the Main Character
When encoding the Symptom & Response, I like to picture in my head the quad sort of turned slightly, into a diamond shape, with the Problem hanging over everything, causing all the trouble like a dark cloud. In its shadow the Symptom & Response work, while hiding under the ground waiting to be unearthed lies the Solution, like buried treasure. Like this, where Oppose is Problem and Hinder is Symptom:
As far as Speculation and Projection go, I’m not that familiar with those elements … I think in actual practice it will be a bit between your two ideas. Like Joe might see his Mom wasting all her time speculating what will happen if she calls Joe’s sister, whom she hasn’t spoken to in years. And Joe is just like “Look Mom, just call her. It will turn out okay, you’ll see. She’s never held a grudge before…” Meanwhile Annie (some other OS character) might get all upset when she sees her own doom in her tea leaves, and responds by trying to anticipate or figure out exactly how that doom will play out.
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Wow @mlucas, this is wonderful!! Great visualization and explanation too. Going to copy this one for future students and blog posts 
As far as “characters being afraid” working as a Gist for Desire: anger, fear, hope, love, dreams, sadness – all these things substitute nicely for Desire. If you think of Innermost Desires - it’s the same thing. Fear can be seen as a longing for safety, or comfort, or protection, and so on.
The Symptom is where the characters think the problem is - for instance, the real problem is that they’re all driven to be afraid of anything - think of certain political parties who use fear to drive enrollment in their policies.
These same people will see Speculation as a problem - not that they’re speculating - but that they see themselves, and others, speculating as to what to do with the things they are afraid of, when really they should start projecting…
…for example, why waste time speculating about invaders from the south, when you can Project what will happen if you don’t build a wall…
The real problem is Desire, but until they see that and see what they can and cannot do and make themselves more ABLE to protect themselves, they’ll spend all their time worrying about speculating and projecting the horrors that could come.
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