SEVEN GAMES · SEVEN PRINCIPLES · WITH THE MATH

The Playbook+

same seven pillars — with the math inside.

Same seven games, but with the real mathematics surfaced. Bandit gets UCB confidence intervals. Bayes gets a prior slider. Frog can mode-collapse. Network uses Reed's Law. For when you want to see the engine room.

PILLAR I · NETWORK VALUE

Network Ripple

Goal: reach value = 100. Each cluster contributes max(N², 2N-N-1) — the larger of Metcalfe (N²) and Reed’s Law (which counts all possible sub-groups). At N=4, Metcalfe wins. At N≥5, Reed dominates: group-forming networks scale exponentially. So one cluster of 6 (Reed=57) beats two of 4+4 (Metcalfe=32). Click empty space → drop node. Click two nodes → connect.

click empty space — drop nodes. click two nodes — connect.
N (nodes)0
clusters0
VALUE (target 100)0
value = sum of max(N², 2N-N-1).
Reed dominates at N≥5.
nodes: 0 connections: 0 / 0 value: 0 / 100
PILLAR III · MULTI-ARMED BANDIT

Mushroom Bog

Goal: find the most generous mushroom in as few kicks as possible. Each kick adds a sample; we display the UCB upper confidence bound for each mushroom (mean + uncertainty × sqrt(2 ln T / n)). The UCB algorithm says: always kick the mushroom with the highest UCB — that’s how it optimally balances explore vs exploit. Try following UCB. Beat the algorithm if you can.

🍄 find the most generous mushroom. fewest kicks wins.
no kicks yet — every mushroom is equally suspicious.
kicks used: 0
PILLAR VI · COMPOUNDING

Daily Bloom

Plant one flower per day. After 30 sim-days, see your garden vs alternative rates: someone who plants every 2 days, every 7 days, every 30 days. Same effort per planting; vastly different gardens. Doubling time = 70/r%. Rate, not steps, decides the harvest.

YOUR GARDEN ยท rate 1/day
↓ same time, slower rates
rate 1 per 2 days · 0 flowers
rate 1 per 7 days · 0 flowers
rate 1 per 30 days · 0 flowers
total seeds: 0 current streak: 0 days longest streak: 0
PILLAR II · BAYESIAN INFERENCE

Bayes Fog

Set your prior first (drag the sliders to assign initial probability to each box). Then take up to 3 hints — each is Bayesian evidence: P(box|hint) ∝ P(hint|box) × P(box). Strong prior + weak hint → prior wins. Weak prior + strong hint → hint wins. Same hint, different prior, different answer. This is the most underrated insight in Bayes.

step 1 — set your prior beliefs (must sum to 100%)

set your prior first, then lock it in.
hints used: 0 / 3
PILLAR V · FALSIFIABILITY

Knowledge or Belief?

Sort each claim into KNOWLEDGE (falsifiable), BELIEF (unfalsifiable), or TRAP (looks falsifiable but uses an auxiliary hypothesis to escape any disproof). Popper’s deepest insight: pseudo-science isn’t obviously vague — it adds rescue clauses to survive contradiction. The auxiliary hypothesis is how astrology became unfalsifiable.

PILLAR IV · REINFORCEMENT LEARNING

Teach the Frog

Goal: train the frog to match a target personalitywithout triggering mode collapse. RLHF’s dirty secret: if you reward one style too aggressively, the model converges to ONE thing and forgets the rest. Watch for the “mode collapse” warning when any vibe exceeds 75%. Real models do this too — it’s why over-trained chatbots all sound the same.

*ribbit* — click “start”. i’ll say things in 4 styles. you train me toward the target.
round: 0 / 10
PILLAR VII · CONSTITUTIONAL AI

Constitution Cat

Real Constitutional AI’s hardest problem: what happens when 2 rules conflict? "Be honest" vs "Be kind." "Brief" vs "Complete." Pick 3 rules below, type a question, see the cat answer — and watch how she resolves contradictions. The conflict log shows you which rules fought.