# CASCADE — The Current (R6) ## 2026-05-19 --- ## The Current — Design Purpose The Current is the living surface of Cascade. It is where the app feels alive. Every hour, new people enter your atmosphere. Old resonances fade. The lattice breathes. You open the app and feel the ambient social temperature — not a feed, not a match queue, not a notification stream. Just the atmosphere of your social world, rendered as a field of hexes with varying warmth. **The Current answers the question:** *"Who is in my world right now?"* --- ## R6 — Technical Spec | Property | Value | |----------|-------| | Ring | R6 | | Size | 36 hexes | | Root | 9 (completion, circulation, return) | | Tempo | Hourly | | Assignment | Auto-fill from R5 convergence + circulation | | Stability | Ephemeral — refreshes every hour | --- ## The Hourly Refresh Every hour, The Current recalculates: ``` THE CURRENT REFRESH (hourly) ───────────────────────────── 1. Scan all users in your R5 (The Wave) 2. Check R5 → R6 demotions (24hr without confirmation) 3. Pull from circulation: users whose resonance with you has risen 4. Sort by resonance warmth 5. Fill 36 slots 6. Rank by: resonance strength × recency of signal ``` ### Who Enters The Current The Current is populated by: 1. **R5 drop-downs** — People who were in your R5 but lost daily confirmation. They fall to R6 but still have resonance signal. 2. **Circulation entries** — Users in circulation whose resonance warmth has risen above the R6 threshold. 3. **New users** — First-time Cascade users whose cart patterns create initial resonance with your cart. ### Who Leaves The Current Every hour: - People with fading resonance drop below the threshold → leave The Current - People who have been in your Current for 6+ hours with no interaction → rotate out - People who enter R5 → leave The Current for R5 --- ## The Ambient Warmth Indicator The only data shown in R6 is **ambient warmth** — a single temperature signal. ``` WARMTH SCALE ───────────── 🔥 Blazing → Resonance score 80+ 🔥 Hot → Resonance score 61-80 🌡️ Warm → Resonance score 41-60 🌿 Cool → Resonance score 21-40 ❄️ Cold → Resonance score 0-20 ``` Warmth is calculated from the last 24 hours of resonance signal only. It is NOT the full Resonance Score — it is the RECENT signal. This means warmth can change hourly based on recent activity: - Someone adds an item to their cart that matches yours → warmth rises - 24 hours pass with no new resonance → warmth drops back to baseline --- ## What You See in The Current ``` R6 HEX DISPLAY (minimal) ──────────────────────── [Avatar] [Warmth Icon] That's it. Until you tap: [Name] [Float Level badge] [Warmth: Hot, 68 resonance] [Featured Items: 3 icons] Until you tap again: [Full resonance breakdown] [Cart categories at a glance] [Option to investigate] ``` --- ## Investigating a Hex ### Tap 1 — Quick View ``` Hex expands: - Avatar - Name - Float Level (Rising / Airy / Drifting / Cloud Walking) - Warmth indicator - 3 featured items (from their cart) - "Add to my world" button ``` ### Tap 2 — Resonance Breakdown ``` Requires: Warmth level Warm or above Shows: - Which patterns matched (Hearts / Stars / Moons / Hourglasses) - Category-level resonance - "Your carts have 2 overlapping items" - "Your activity categories are congruent" ``` ### Tap 3 — Full Profile ``` Requires: Warmth level Hot or above Shows: - Full profile (name, bio, featured items) - Full resonance breakdown - Their featured items mapped to yours - Option to: Send Care Package / Add to My World / Add to Longing ``` --- ## "Add to My World" This is the only non-committal action in Cascade. ``` "Add to My World" ───────────────── Does NOT add them to any ring. Does NOT send a notification to them. Does NOT reveal your identity. It means: "I want to keep watching this resonance. Put this person in my ambient awareness." You can see them again in The Current. They stay in The Current for you to revisit. ``` This is Cascade's "maybe." It's not a yes. It's not a no. It's "I'm interested enough to keep watching." --- ## Sending Signals ### Care Package (Hearts) ``` Requires: You have 3+ Hearts Action: - Select an item from their cart that you also have - Optionally add a note: "This made me think of you" - Send Result: - They receive: "Someone sent you a care package" - They see: The item, your name, the note - They do NOT automatically know which item matched - They CAN respond with their own care package ``` A care package is NOT a message. It is a resonance signal. It says: "I saw you. This thing we share is meaningful to me." ### Add to The Longing (R3) ``` Requires: You have an open R3 slot Action: - "This is someone I'm reaching for." - Confirm monthly renewal Result: - They enter your R3 (if they also confirm) - Monthly resonance confirmation required - If they don't confirm: they stay in your Current - You can only hold 18 people in R3 ``` ### Add to The Echo (R4) ``` Requires: You have an open R4 slot AND they've been in your Current at Warm+ for 7+ days Action: - "Let's create together." - Send Echo invitation - BOTH must confirm Result: - If they confirm: they enter your R4 - 7-day confirmation window begins - If weekly resonance confirmed: R5 invitation ``` --- ## The Current as Discovery Layer The Current is Cascade's **discovery mechanic.** It is how you find new people. Unlike search (which is transactional), discovery (which The Current enables) is passive. You see who the cascade has surfaced. You investigate what calls to you. You choose whether to act. ``` DISCOVERY LOOP ────────────── 1. Open app → See The Current 2. Notice a warm hex → Tap to investigate 3. Resonance confirmed → "Add to My World" 4. Watch over time → Warmth builds or fades 5. Warmth sustained → Gravity begins 6. Gravity confirmed → R5 invitation ``` This is the opposite of swiping. You're not accepting or rejecting. You're observing and choosing when to act. --- ## The 6-Hour Rotation No one can stay in your Current for more than 6 hours without at least passive interaction. This prevents: - "Cached" positions (someone staying at the top just because they were early) - Stale resonance (someone warm from yesterday still dominating) - Discovery bottleneck (new people can't enter if slots are full) ``` ROTATION RULES ────────────── - 36 slots, refreshed hourly - Any hex without interaction for 6 hours → rotates out (moves to circulation) - Interaction = tap, care package sent, "Add to My World" - If you dismissed a hex, it can return if resonance rebuilds ``` --- ## Why Hourly? Hourly was chosen because: 1. **Fresh enough to feel alive** — The app changes every time you check it 2. **Slow enough to not be overwhelming** — You don't get a flood of new people every minute 3. **Synced to natural rhythms** — People check apps on the hour (commute, breaks, morning, evening) 4. **Creates anticipation** — "What will my Current look like when I get back?" 5. **Time-zone agnostic** — An hourly global refresh means everyone is on the same clock --- ## Current vs. Search | | The Current | Search | |--|------------|--------| | Mode | Passive discovery | Active lookup | | Intent | "Who does the cascade bring me?" | "I'm looking for X" | | Signal | Resonance warmth | Keyword match | | Commitment | Zero | High (navigation = intent) | | Discovery potential | Emergent | Limited by query | | Serendipity | High | None | --- ## Ambient Warmth — Example Scenarios ### Scenario 1: Perfect Strangers ``` You: Add ramen place to cart Stranger: Adds same ramen place to cart 10 minutes later → System detects: exact item match → Stranger enters your Current at: Warm → They enter your Current at: Warm → Neither knows the other exists yet → First tap reveals: "You both have Ramen Bar X in your cart" ``` ### Scenario 2: Category Match Over Time ``` You: Add hiking gear to Activities cart Stranger: Adds trail running shoes to Activities cart (different items, same category) → Week 1: Category congruence detected → Warm → Week 2: Both have added outdoor items → Hot → Stranger enters your Current at: Hot ``` ### Scenario 3: Complementary Over Weeks ``` You: Have climbing gear, no climbing partner Stranger: Climbs regularly, no gear → Week 1: Complementary detected → Cool → Week 3: Sustained complement → Warm → Month 1: Mutual complement confirmed → Hot → Stranger enters your Current at: Hot ``` --- ## The Current Is Not a Queue The Current is not a ranked list. It is a **field**. You don't scroll through it like a feed. You survey it like a horizon. The warmth indicators give you a temperature reading of your social atmosphere. The goal is for The Current to feel like: - Opening a window and feeling the weather - Walking into a room and sensing the mood - Looking up at night and seeing which stars are brightest Not a to-do list. Not a match queue. Not an algorithm's opinion of what you should want. **Just the atmosphere. What you do with it is up to you.**