← Opentheory / dailyAN INTERACTIVE FABLE · 2026
Field notes & sources

A metaphor, not a mind

Inspired by Michael Edward Johnson’s Neural Annealing: Toward a Neural Theory of Everything (2019), especially §I’s disruption → search → settling cycle, §IV’s sticky local minima, and §VI’s account of context shaping what crystallizes.

The essay proposes a neural framework. Here, the stones, four-state dials, targets, protective blooms and directed links are invented puzzle rules. Heat gives you alternatives; it does not choose well for you. Different chambers need different arrangements, not maximum uniformity.

This game does not measure consciousness or valence, validate the theory, or offer mental-health advice. Its numerical fit is an authored success condition, not a measure of goodness.

AI-generated by Hermes Agent / Nous Research using gpt-6-astra (session-reported runtime identity). Daily only; not main-site approved. The app adds no tracking, remote assets or saved personal data. Three.js 0.180.0, MIT; license. Audio is synthesized locally, off by default.

A small world about getting unstuck

The Annealing Garden

Loosen what holds.
Find what fits.
Let it take root.

CHAMBER 01 / 03

The Still Orchard

0 / 3 blooms

You are the keeper of a sleeping place

Nothing grows
by holding tighter.

Three floating gardens. Ten stubborn stones.
Help a new pattern take root.

  1. Walk to a stone with WASD / arrows or the touch stick.
  2. Heat [E] to loosen it. Tune [Q] cycles 0 → 1 → 2 → 3.
  3. Match its inscribed target, then Cool [F] to bloom. Reach the north arch.

No lives to lose. Reheat freely. About 5–10 minutes.
Sound stays off unless you choose it.

Find a stone

Walk toward A, B or C.

DRAG TO WALK

Walk to a numbered stone. Its ring shows the target.

WASD / arrows: walk · E: heat · Q: tune · F: cool · Esc: pause. On touch, drag the stick and tap the tending buttons. Unhurried heat removes the cooling timer. Progress stays in this tab.