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design · c144archivedstarted Nov 12Auto draft — not yet reviewed

Theatre Mode, now Simulation mode

Why we did this

People learn security by seeing an incident, nobody can afford a real one, and an unlabelled pretend one is a hazard of its own.

What happened

Six disaster stories that play in the lab's real dashboard, beat by beat on the person's Next, between one click on and one click off, with the findings worked out by the dashboard's own rules and pointed at one by one. Replaying them with one policy at Enforce shows what would have stopped each, and corrected the first draft in eight places. A show mode plays them unattended; the first story also plays in the native app.

New in this cycleOne picture shows the tours, the start and end of pretend mode, and how a story becomes a test.
At a glance
7
changes
0
conversations
17
decisions
0
outside helpers

What changed

The two changes that matter most, in plain words. Open any one to see it.

  1. 1

    A story of AI going wrong, played in the real dashboard on made-up data, one Next at a time.

    Simulation mode in the lab · came from Mark Parsonopen →

  2. 2

    Mark's five disasters and one more, written so the dashboard can play them, and checked by playing them.

    Wave 1: six stories · came from Mark Parsonopen →

Also in this cycle
  • One picture shows the tours, the start and end of pretend mode, and how a story becomes a test. New in this cycle
  • A booth reel and a before-the-talk screen, from the same tours. New in this cycle
  • What the dashboard can't show is drawn instead of pointed at. New in this cycle
  • The same story on the person's own laptop app. New in this cycle
  • How the tours, the pretend mode and the tests fit together, and the order to build them in. In words

How we got here

Each change, traced back to the conversation it came from. A solid mark means the record names the source; a dashed one was matched by the draft and waits for review.

Someone said

From the record: no recorded conversation behind this one.

We decided

c144-C1 The person flips the theatre switch, and that starts the tour's story: "correct, that switches on the tour and we note that is true". No tool turns it on. — Mark Parson

c144-C2 Beats move on the person's Next: "for the most part, plan on them progressing manually via next". A rare beat may move on by itself. — Mark Parson

c144-C4 The register is the minimum: "let's do the minimum needed to speak intelligently to the target". Three written stops, no ELI5, no set-register. — Mark Parson

c144-H1 Theatre is the tour guide we already have, extended: "We already have a theatre harness–the tour guide. WE are expanding that work, or using it as is where already capable." — Mark Parson

c144-R1 Call it simulation mode: "let's call it simulation mode instead of theatre, keep the icon". Its band became a panel in the tour's material, and starting or ending it is one click in the tour. — Mark Parson

c144-R2 Number only what matches: "WE should only show a number when it corrosponds, and we should show that same number to the point we are making." — Mark Parson

c144-R4 Point only at what matters: "what are we highlighting here? What are we saying? what really matters, let's be clearer here". — Mark Parson

So now

A story of AI going wrong, played in the real dashboard on made-up data, one Next at a time.

Someone said

From the record: no recorded conversation behind this one.

We decided

c144-M4 Doomsday scenarios played on synthetic data: as the story changes, we see what it looks like in the dashboard, and the same walk tests the dashboard. — Mark Parson

c144-C8 Build all six of wave 1 in the first build: "lets plan on building them all". — Mark Parson

c144-C9 Name no country: "find something less sensitive". S2 became The server that phones home. — Mark Parson

So now

Mark's five disasters and one more, written so the dashboard can play them, and checked by playing them.

Thanks to

People outside Qpoint first. Every thank-you points at something they said or made.

MP
Mark Parson
Qpoint team

Asked for tours your own agent gives, and a theatre for disasters

Opened the cycle on 2026-11-12 and ruled its ten calls the same evening: the person's switch and the person's Next, three registers, today's marks, all six stories at once, nothing named, and a show mode for booths and talks; then asked that theatre extend the tour guide rather than stand beside it.

All images

Every picture from this cycle. Click any one to step through them all.

The pairs

Theatre modeNew in this cycle
Simulation mode in the labNew in this cycle
Wave 1: six storiesNew in this cycle
Show modeNew in this cycle
Off screen, as scenesNew in this cycle
S1 in the native appNew in this cycle

Everything captured · 8

The full record 17 decisions · 4 key-change entries · 12,400 words · 33 captures

The record stays as written, for agents and for audit: Key Changes, every decision, the artifacts and the visual record.

Open the record for c144 →

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