# Session 0005.0 — Transcript

> App: human-experience-filter-art
> Type: discovery
> Start: 2026-06-05T08-30 (PST) · End: 2026-06-05T17-48 (PST)
> Goal: Explore whether AI-generated/altered video is a viable content path for the
>       pano projector — economics + fit with the design — and capture the outcome.
> Outcome: **Artistic thesis pivoted** and a full design-spec revision written,
>          reviewed, and **merged to `main` via PR #4** (merge commit `77746e4`).
>          Implementation deferred to a sub-project-3 coding session.

## Plan

Discovery session opened from the operator's question: "can we write/generate
scene descriptions and generate the video with AI — would the economics work?"
The session ran as a brainstorming exploration that converged on a new thesis and
produced a design spec as its artifact.

## Launch prompt

```
I'm not sure if hte economics would work out (can you do a best effort calculation?) but maybe we could write up/generate scene descriptions and generate the video with AI. What do you think?
```

## Pre-session state

- `main` @ `3510236`. Sub-projects 1 & 2 done/merged; roadmap frontier = sub-project
  3 (Pi player). A stale, already-merged worktree (`feature/BuildSimulator11`,
  same commit as main) was the session's launch cwd.
- Design of record: `2026-06-04-human-experience-filter-design.md` — single pano
  projector + **found** nature video; §1 constraint "real found media, **not
  algorithmically generated filler. Curation is the artwork.**"

## Turn-by-turn arc

1. **Gate / classify.** Operator's prompt was ambiguous between discovery and a
   quick chat; asked → operator chose **Discovery (tracked)**. Ran
   `wgl-session-discovery-init`.
2. **Claim snag (kept in the record).** `resolve-app.py` reported **ambiguous** —
   the nested worktree's `app.json` (`.worktrees/feature-BuildSimulator11/app.json`)
   was discovered alongside the canonical main-repo `app.json`, both listing the
   repo. Worked around with `WGL_APP_SCAN_DEPTH=3` (excludes the depth-5 worktree
   copy). Claimed session **0005**, type discovery, at `850f67a`.
3. **Economics, v1 (the original question).** Researched 2026 AI-video API rates
   (Sora 2 ~$0.10/s, Kling 3.0 ~$0.10/s, Veo 3.1 Lite/Runway Turbo ~$0.05/s, Veo 3
   +audio ~$0.75/s). At the spec's scale (120–800 pieces × ~10-min segments) →
   **~$15k–45k+** with retries; **not viable**, and it doesn't reduce the real
   constraint (curation labor). Also flagged the §1 thesis conflict ("not generated
   filler").
4. **Thesis pivot.** Operator: willing to change the thesis — the piece is "about
   **how humans interact with machines and how it impacts their nervous systems**."
   Under that thesis AI alteration *is* the subject. Invoked `brainstorming`.
   Scope = **re-skin the meaning** (keep apparatus); content = **AI-altered
   primary**.
5. **Economics, v2 (the flip).** New thesis unlocks two cost levers: small
   **generate-to-order** library + short **seamless loops** → **~$300–3k**. Feasible.
6. **The strong concept crystallizes.** Operator: start from **neutral** real
   nature footage and let the machine **alter it toward the knob state** — "a great
   expression of how machines alter our experience, good and bad." Established the
   per-axis mapping (Left = analytical overlay; Right = generative v2v dissolve;
   Dark/Light = color grade), the **substrate-vs-overlay composition rule**, and the
   "whole-brain" corner (feeling, *labeled*).
7. **Control panel + i18n.** Operator added a 7-way content dial (Off/White
   Noise/Music/Audio Track/Video/Music+Video/Audio Track+Video), volume + brightness
   knobs, and a tactile **wooden** panel (engraved symbols, braille, color LEDs,
   read-aloud button). Designed touch-distinct/engravable symbols. Key finding on
   the **translation cost**: because the Left **labels are a runtime overlay**, the
   v2v renders once (language-agnostic) and supporting *every* language is ~free on
   the video — only cheap text translation + TTS. (Baking labels in would multiply
   video cost × #languages — the avoided landmine.)
8. **Mood color grade.** Operator: Light = yellow / white negative space; center =
   raw ungraded video; Dark = blue / black negative space. (First draft mis-set
   Dark=red and center=grey; operator corrected → Dark = melancholy **blue** not
   alarm red; center = **raw video**, no grade.)
9. **Wrote the spec.** Branched `feature/machine-altered-perception-spec` off main,
   wrote `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-05-machine-altered-perception-design.md`
   (15 sections), committed, self-reviewed; operator reviewed and gave 4
   corrections (center=raw, add Music+Video → 7-way, audio-alteration deferred,
   red gone) → applied, commit amended to `c5952c6`.
10. **Wrap.** Operator chose to wrap the discovery session here (spec is the
    artifact; build later). Pushed branch; first PR-creation attempt was **blocked
    by the auto-mode classifier** (treated as routing around PR authorization) —
    surfaced it rather than working around. Operator then explicitly authorized
    opening + merging the PR → **PR #4 opened and merged to `main`** (merge commit
    `77746e4`, branch deleted), local `main` fast-forwarded.

## Cut state (end of session)

| Item | State |
|---|---|
| Design spec | **Merged to `main`** — `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-05-machine-altered-perception-design.md` |
| Branch commit | `c5952c6` (spec, amended with review fixes) |
| Merge commit | `77746e4` (PR #4), feature branch deleted |
| `main` | fast-forwarded to `77746e4` (local + origin) |
| Roadmap | unchanged on disk; spec §13 describes how sub-projects 2/3/4 + a new offline v2v pipeline are reshaped (a roadmap-edit pass is future work) |
| Memory | `ai-generated-content-thesis-pivot.md` (full design rationale + status) + `MEMORY.md` index updated |

## What lands on the operator's plate

- Nothing blocking. The spec is canonical and merged.
- Optional future passes the spec itself lists (§14): pano resolution strategy,
  negative-space luma key, transform composition order, neutral-base count,
  language tier, runtime-grading perf on the Pi.
- A roadmap-edit pass to reflect the reshaped sub-projects 2/3/4 (the design spec
  carries it for now).

## Deferred decisions

No substantive low-confidence design calls — every design decision (thesis,
per-axis mapping, composition rule, color grade, the 7-way dial, the panel) was
operator-confirmed in-session. Two mechanical judgment calls worth flagging:

- **`WGL_APP_SCAN_DEPTH=3` workaround** for the nested-worktree `app.json`
  ambiguity in `resolve-app.py`. This is a genuine plugin friction (a worktree
  nested under the main repo makes the resolver ambiguous) — a candidate for
  `wgl-dev-plugin-feedback` (resolver should skip `.worktrees/`).
- **Repurposed the stale `feature/BuildSimulator11` worktree** to a fresh
  `feature/machine-altered-perception-spec` branch off its HEAD (= main) rather
  than removing it (harness had cwd anchored there; removal risked breaking the
  shell).

## Prompt the operator can paste into the next session

```
/goal Implement sub-project 3 (the player / alteration engine) per docs/ROADMAP.md and the new docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-05-machine-altered-perception-design.md. Read memory ai-generated-content-thesis-pivot.md first. Build the alteration engine: runtime luma-keyed mood grade (Light=yellow/white → raw → Dark=blue/black), runtime analytical-overlay compositor (multilingual, from string tables), generated white noise, and selection/blending of pre-baked v2v variants over a small neutral base library; resolve the spec §14 open questions (pano resolution, composition order) as you go.
```