Focused vs Open — The Artist Analogy for Ideas and Two-Timescale Dynamics

The system is an artist. Ideas live as hues on a unit circle and speak as a fast inner voice. Each painting requires 50 clicks (slow), while ideas can pivot every click (fast). We work with a finite set of endpoints (only the ideas that choose this artist), dropping “missing hues.” The algebra is phasor-based and unchanged; what changes is the ontology.

1) Ontology: Finite Endpoints

Endpoints: only the ideas that chose the artist exist for this system. If 5 ideas adhere, there are exactly 5 endpoints.
Perfect vs muted: a perfect system is chosen by all ideas; a muted system by none. Most lie between.
Present-only vectors: session math sums only adhered idea phasors. Adhesion can change mid-session.

2) Session Dynamics (Fast Scale)

State per click as a phasor:

One new unit idea at angle $alpha$ adds tip-to-tail:

Exact incremental updates with $delta = alpha - phi$ :

Reinforcement vs quieting: $C' > C iff cos delta > 0$ ; opposite push $delta = pi$ gives $C' = |C - 1|$ .
Directional inertia: for large $C$ , $Delta phi ~ O(1/C)$ ; late-session steering is expensive.

3) Two Timescales and Frequency Separation

Let one click be Δt. Ideas update every click; one painting takes 50 clicks.

Indexing that reads well on a board: clicks $n$ inside painting $m$ :

M_{m,n+1} = M_{m,n} + e^{i\alpha_{m,n}}, M_{m+1,0} = M_{m,50}

4) Slow Variables A and P (Gallery Clock)

Summarize a session by terminal or mean phasor:

Update slow variables with small gain $lambda$ :

5) Focused vs Open Diagnostics

Scatter (windowed):

Drift: median $|Delta phi|$ across the 50 clicks.
Growth pattern: focused sessions show monotone or gently rising $C$ ; open sessions fluctuate.
Steerability bound:

Adhesion rate: number of new endpoints joining mid-session.

Labels: A focused system has low scatter, small drift, rising C, and few new endpoints; additions mostly amplify intensity without rotating direction. An open system has higher scatter, larger drift, fluctuating C, and more adhesion; direction can pivot substantially early in the session.

6) Surprise vs Bias (Teaching Pin)

Choose an axis $psi$ . Define:

Bias does not equal surprise; surprise peaks when the voice is near quadrature to the axis.

7) Bounds and Rules of Thumb

A single opposite push cannot flip a large- $C$ voice: with $delta = pi$ , $C' = |C - 1|$ .
Early session (small $C$ ) allows big pivots; late session (large $C$ ) requires coordinated pushes.
Five-click stability probe: compute $s_t over N=5$ ; combine with $sigma_t$ to call “focused.”

8) Minimal Worked Micro-Example

Prior voice $M = 4 angle 240$ . Add Red at $0 degrees$ :

Interpretation: a modest nudge toward Red and a quieting of intensity—exactly as the incremental formulas predict for a large-C prior.

Plain language: ideas run 50× faster than paintings complete. A focused session amplifies a stable direction; an open session explores. As intensity grows, the voice hardens—each new thought rotates it less.

Focused vs Open — The Artist Analogy for Ideas and Two-Timescale Dynamics

Focused vs Open — The Artist Analogy for Ideas and Two-Timescale Dynamics

1) Ontology: Finite Endpoints

2) Session Dynamics (Fast Scale)

3) Two Timescales and Frequency Separation

4) Slow Variables A and P (Gallery Clock)

5) Focused vs Open Diagnostics

6) Surprise vs Bias (Teaching Pin)

7) Bounds and Rules of Thumb

8) Minimal Worked Micro-Example

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Focused vs Open — The Artist Analogy for Ideas and Two-Timescale Dynamics

1) Ontology: Finite Endpoints

2) Session Dynamics (Fast Scale)

3) Two Timescales and Frequency Separation

4) Slow Variables A and P (Gallery Clock)

5) Focused vs Open Diagnostics

6) Surprise vs Bias (Teaching Pin)

7) Bounds and Rules of Thumb

8) Minimal Worked Micro-Example

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