5. Ideas

The “what is this trilogy thinking about” surface, written so contributors can pitch into it without needing the whole spine.

Sub-pages

PROCESSING. Sub-pages will land as canonical sources are reviewed for plot safety.

• Heart in the laughter (§10.1; the trilogy’s prime directive)
• Causality violation as comedy engine (§10.17)
• Sorkin dialogue rhythm (§10.18)
• The “or:” subtitle convention (§10.19)
• The bit-as-arc (§10.15; the Mercer prologue structure as a writing pattern)
• Each ripple is a fable (§9.4 the moral-shape rule)
• Specificity over generality (COMEDY_RULES)
• The four-part joke formula (COMEDY_RULES)
• “Take the risk” (COMEDY_RULES)
• Compiler’s training data as comedic origin (COMEDY_RULES)