5.7 KiB
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
Style: Minimalist info-design Show: Meeting table with chairs; decisions float away as paper birds Prompt: “Minimalist vector illustration, 16:9: an empty meeting table with scattered minutes turning into origami birds that fly out a window; a simple wall clock with hands spinning; calm color palette, lots of negative space, soft shadows.” Caption: “No record, no progress.”
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.”