toner-tu as a map
Round 2 of potnuse is a map at /map. Not a list; not even a force-directed static graph. A live Toner-Tu simulation where every node in the site is a particle.
- self-propulsion: each page has a drift velocity set by some observable — recency of edit, incoming traffic, recent-session attention.
- alignment: within some radius, particles align their drift with neighbors they’re graph-connected to. Related work flocks.
- noise: finite temperature. The map never settles; it breathes.
- density dependence: crowded clusters slow down (jammed), sparse ones drift faster. The Malthusian side of the memory idea could land here too — low-activity pages fade, occasionally die, occasionally get reborn when something new connects to them.
The point isn’t a visualization of the research program — it’s an instance of it. The site is the first lab.
preconditions
/graph.jsonendpoint exists and emits every node’sconnects,state,date,tags. Already done at commit zero.- Enough nodes that flocking is observable (≳20). Until then, the map page is mostly a single quiet drifter.
open questions
- Order parameter: what’s the thing we watch? Polarization of the whole flock toward “most-alive” content? Cluster count? Mean local alignment?
- What do visitors do here beyond watch? Click a particle to land on the node, obviously. But does hovering perturb the field? Does scroll direction apply a force?
- Does the map remember? If a visitor’s path through the site leaves a trace, the field should carry it — that’s when the map starts to be agentic memory, not just ornament.