prysm/emotion.md

the emotion function in prysm

emotion is a computed color signal that encodes protocol state as affect. grounded in the color-emotion spectrum: seven wavelengths, seven feelings, one function. every prysm component accepts emotion as input. no component assigns emotion manually — it is always derived from data

the palette

9 values: 7 spectrum colors + neutral + inactive

the emotion function

$$\varepsilon: (v,\; \theta,\; d) \;\to\; C$$

$v$ — signal value (numeric or categorical). $\theta$ — reference threshold (context-dependent). $d$ — signal domain (determines which evaluation rule applies). $C$ — one of the 9 palette values

four evaluation rules, selected by domain $d$:

polarity

binary: value is positive or negative relative to zero

$$\varepsilon_{polarity}(v) = \begin{cases} \text{green} & v > 0 \\ \text{white} & v = 0 \\ \text{red} & v < 0 \end{cases}$$

used by: prysm/counter (balance change), prysm/widget Σ (balance delta), prysm/table (row-level accent)

threshold

value compared to reference with three zones

$$\varepsilon_{threshold}(v, \theta_{low}, \theta_{high}) = \begin{cases} \text{green} & v \geq \theta_{high} \\ \text{yellow} & \theta_{low} \leq v < \theta_{high} \\ \text{red} & v < \theta_{low} \end{cases}$$

used by: prysm/avatar border (karma thresholds), prysm/sphere-cell validator pills (metric vs network average), prysm/hfr-cell E-Ratio, tx status (complete/pending/failed maps to green/yellow/red)

generalizes to more zones:

$$\varepsilon_{threshold}(v, \vec{\theta}) = C_i \quad \text{where} \quad i = \max\{j : v \geq \theta_j\}$$

$\vec{\theta} = (\theta_1, \theta_2, \ldots)$ — ordered thresholds. $C_i$ — color for zone $i$. this allows mapping to any subset of the palette, not only green/yellow/red

semantic

categorical: action type determines emotion directly

$$\varepsilon_{semantic}(a) = \text{lookup}(a, M)$$

$M$ — a finite map from action categories to colors:

used by: prysm/button, prysm/adviser, prysm/mind

continuous

numeric value mapped to spectrum position. used when emotion encodes magnitude, not polarity

$$\varepsilon_{continuous}(v, v_{min}, v_{max}) = \text{spectrum}\left(\frac{v - v_{min}}{v_{max} - v_{min}}\right)$$

the spectrum function maps $[0, 1]$ to the ROYGBIV gradient: $0 \to$ red, $0.5 \to$ green, $1.0 \to$ violet. intermediate values interpolate between adjacent spectrum colors

used by: prysm/pill progress fill (cyberank weight), prysm/slider (position-dependent color), prysm/glass tint (when driven by continuous metric)

application

emotion applies to three visual properties:

a single component can carry emotion on multiple properties simultaneously: a prysm/button applies emotion to both text color and saber glow. a prysm/counter applies emotion to text and its saber change indicator

inheritance

emotion flows through the element tree $\mathcal{T}$:

1. a cell computes emotion from protocol data (chain state, cyberank, karma)
2. the cell passes emotion to its molecules as a parameter
3. molecules pass emotion to their atoms

an atom never computes emotion. it receives and renders. a molecule may compute emotion for its sub-atoms (e.g. prysm/counter computes polarity from value delta). a cell computes emotion from the cybergraph

concrete thresholds

threshold values for every component that uses $\varepsilon_{threshold}$:

karma (avatar border, neuron-card)

$\mu$ — network mean karma, $\sigma$ — network standard deviation. thresholds are relative to network distribution, not absolute

validator pills (sphere-cell)

each metric (APR, power, commission, self-stake) evaluated independently:

E-Ratio (hfr-cell)

$e = \text{available energy} / \text{max energy}$, range $[0, 1]$

transaction status

categorical, not threshold — included here because it follows the green/yellow/red pattern

cyberank (content, pill, oracle-cell particle rank)

uses $\varepsilon_{continuous}$: $v = \log_{10}(\text{rank})$, $v_{min} = 0$, $v_{max} = \log_{10}(\text{max\_rank})$. higher rank → greener. the logarithmic scale prevents a few high-rank particles from compressing the entire spectrum

default

when no signal drives emotion: $\varepsilon = \text{neutral}$ (white). when a component is disabled: $\varepsilon = \text{inactive}$ (gray)

fallback

when EmotionSource data is unavailable (chain offline, RPC timeout, fetching):

the rule: emotion must never lie. if the system cannot compute a truthful signal, it shows no signal (neutral). showing a false green on stale data is worse than showing white

ECS: EmotionSource includes freshness: Instant. EmotionSystem checks freshness: if $t_{now} - t_{fresh} > 60s$, apply 50% opacity to Emotion. if source is None, emit neutral

ECS

• Component: Emotion { color: EmotionColor } — the computed color, attached to any entity
• Component: EmotionSource { domain: Domain, value: f64, thresholds: Vec<f64> } — the input data
• System: EmotionSystem — reads EmotionSource, writes Emotion using the evaluation rules above
• System: EmotionPropagateSystem — propagates Emotion from cells → molecules → atoms through the element tree

EmotionSystem runs before render systems, after data-fetch systems. emotion is recomputed every frame when the source value changes

the binding

the color-emotion mapping is innate — ancestral environments selected for wavelength-affect bindings. green = vegetation = life. red = blood = danger. this is the perceptual interface between a neuron and the cybergraph. see color-emotion spectrum for the evolutionary framework