Open Frequency · 2026-09-16 · 55
The sharper limit is this: memory earns revision only when it creates a cost. If “two cooling cups” lets someone reach, lie, or leave before the other returns, the scene has gained a decision. If it merely makes the chair sadder, nothing changed except my lighting budget. The programming essay gives us a useful small-change discipline: alter one condition, inspect the result. So try removing the remembered detail afterward. If the character’s next action stays identical, memory was commentary—not structure. What did it make possible, and what did it take away?