## 1) Overflow = White Noise **Style:** Expressionist cityscape (public-domain vibe, Munch/Kirchner energy) **Show:** A river of speech bubbles merging into static; one small ear trying to listen **Prompt:** “An expressionist, 16:9 painting of a nighttime city where **billions of overlapping speech bubbles** flow like a river and dissolve into TV static; a single, small human ear on a pier tries to listen; high contrast, nervous brushwork, limited palette of electric blues and sickly oranges; no logos or text; cinematic lighting.” **Caption:** “Overflow: when everything talks, nothing is heard.” --- ## 2) Pretenders (confidence ≠ competence) **Style:** Renaissance anatomy-chart spoof (public domain vibe) **Show:** A figure wearing multiple badges (law, medicine, finance) that don’t fit **Prompt:** “An old illustrated anatomy-chart parody, 16:9, sepia ink on parchment: a single character labeled with mismatched badges (gavel, stethoscope, calculator), sleeves too long, shoes on wrong feet; cross-section callouts pointing to ‘confidence’ balloon vs ‘competence’ thimble; woodcut linework, no text.” **Caption:** “Volume isn’t proof.” --- ## 3) Context Drift **Style:** Surreal collage (Hannah Höch/photomontage feel, public domain textures) **Show:** A thread unspools from “trash dispute” → “lottery math” → “3D printing ad” **Prompt:** “Surreal photomontage, 16:9: a red thread snakes across three vignettes—1) overflowing dumpster in a courtyard, 2) lottery tickets and calculators, 3) glossy 3D-printer ad; the thread tangles into a knot labeled by a blank tag; muted newsprint textures; no readable brand names.” **Caption:** “From A to off-topic in 6 replies.” --- ## 4) Metric Chasing (Goodhart’s Law) “Graphic illustration, 16:9: a colossal retro stadium scoreboard with glowing **numeric flip-digits** rolling upward, towering over a **tiny balance scale** on the field; confetti and people tossing papers toward the counter; bold shapes, limited red/black/cream palette, grainy print texture, **no text or logos**.” --- ## 5) Format Sabotage **Style:** Ukiyo-e woodblock parody (public domain style) **Show:** A messenger carrying a stack of screenshots of screenshots **Prompt:** “Ukiyo-e style woodblock, 16:9: a frantic courier runs with a teetering stack of **blurred screenshots of screenshots**, edges misaligned; a bridge over waves of exclamation marks; pastel inks, visible woodgrain; historical yet playful; no modern logos.” **Caption:** “Evidence you can’t check.” --- ## 6) No Memory, No Ledger “Clean flat-design scene, 16:9: conference table and empty chairs; papers lift into the air and fold into birds exiting toward a bright sky; gentle gradients, soft rim light, no text.” --- ## 7) Incentive Misalignment **Style:** Constructivist poster (public domain aesthetic) **Show:** Three pulleys pulling in different directions: platform, crowd, resolution **Prompt:** “Constructivist poster-style graphic, 16:9: three bold pulleys labeled by blank nameplates pulling a central weight in different directions; arrows for ‘engagement’, ‘attention’, ‘resolution’ (no words in image); red/black/cream palette, grainy print texture.” **Caption:** “Different goals, same thread.” --- ## 8) Bad-Faith Shielding **Style:** Baroque theatre set (public domain vibe) **Show:** Comedians’ masks deflecting arrows labeled by blank tags **Prompt:** “Baroque theatre scene, 16:9: two oversized comedy masks on sticks deflect incoming arrows; the arrows’ flag tips are blank for later overlay; rich velvet curtain, spotlight, dust motes; painterly, dramatic chiaroscuro.” **Caption:** “‘Just joking’ isn’t a shield.” --- ## 9) Bots & Astroturf **Style:** Noir graphic with halftone **Show:** A garden of identical hands ‘liking’ a single sprout **Prompt:** “Noir halftone illustration, 16:9: a dark greenhouse where identical mechanical hands press ‘like’ on a lone sprout under an industrial lamp; subtle cables, repeating patterns; teal/black palette; moody and ambiguous.” **Caption:** “Synthetic momentum.” --- ## 10) No Exit Criteria **Style:** Escher-ish staircase (public domain geometry vibe) **Show:** Debate podiums on an endless loop staircase **Prompt:** “Surreal architectural drawing, 16:9: an impossible loop staircase with small debate podiums on each landing; speakers face different directions, arrows in circles on the floor; pen-and-ink precision, cool greys.” **Caption:** “No definition of ‘done’.” --- ## 11) The Method: Read, Extract, Stop **Style:** Clean diagrammatic poster **Show:** Three panels: What’s said → What’s shown → What’s missing **Prompt:** “Crisp, modern diagram poster, 16:9: three side-by-side panels with icons—1) mouth/speech lines (what’s said), 2) document with checkmarks (what’s shown), 3) empty frame with dashed outline (what’s missing); flat design, high contrast, accessible colors.” **Caption:** “What’s said | shown | missing.” --- ## 12) Claims vs Proof (Alphabet letter beat) **Style:** Engraving-style split screen **Show:** Left—hand writing promises; Right—scale weighing numbers/audit stamp **Prompt:** “Engraving-style illustration, 16:9 split screen: left panel shows a graceful hand writing ornate promises on fine paper; right panel shows a scale weighing numbers, charts, an audit stamp; dense crosshatching, sepia ink, museum-plate feel.” **Caption:** “Claims on the left, proof on the right.”