hermes-agent/optional-skills/creative/creative-ideation/references/methods/compression-progress.md
SHL0MS d799284b15
feat(optional-skills/creative-ideation): expand to v2.1.0 method library (#42402)
The optional-skills copy was still the v1.0.0 constraint-dispatch skill
(SKILL.md + full-prompt-library.md only). This brings it up to the current
tool: a situation-routed library of 22 named ideation methods drawn from
working artists, scientists, designers, and writers.

SKILL.md becomes a 4-step router (extract PHASE/DOMAIN/SPECIFICITY signals
→ apply overrides → route phase-then-domain → resolve ambiguity), with
anti-slop operating rules and an anti-default check.

Adds:
- 22 method files under references/methods/ — oblique-strategies (Eno/Schmidt),
  oulipo, scamper, lateral-provocations (de Bono), triz (Altshuller),
  leverage-points (Meadows), pattern-languages (Alexander), compression-progress
  (Schmidhuber), analogy-and-blending, pataphysics, first-principles, polya,
  biomimicry, volume-generation, creative-discipline, premortem-and-inversion,
  defamiliarization, derive-and-mapping, affinity-diagrams, jobs-to-be-done,
  story-skeletons, chance-and-remix. Each: when/when-not, the actual
  cards/principles/operators, a procedure, a worked example, anti-slop notes.
- references/method-catalog.md (index + when-to-use), heuristics.md (extended
  decision tree), anti-slop.md (rules applied to every output), exercises.md
  (time-boxed exercises).
- full-prompt-library.md restructured into domain-affinity sections (general /
  software / physical / social / lists) so the no-direction default isn't
  developer-biased.

Frontmatter: name aligned to directory slug (creative-ideation, folding in
the fix from #18084); version 2.0.0→2.1.0; platforms field preserved.

Original wttdotm-derived constraint dispatch is kept as the default path.
Supersedes #19295 (which targeted the pre-move skills/ path).

Co-authored-by: SHL0MS <SHL0MS@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-06-19 15:40:02 -07:00

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# Compression Progress
Jürgen Schmidhuber, *Formal Theory of Creativity* (19902010). Beauty = compressibility given prior knowledge. Interestingness = the *change* in compressibility as you learn. A worthwhile project is one that, on completion, would compress your model of the world.
## Core formula
```
I(D, O(t)) = B(D, O(t)) B(D, O(t1))
```
Interestingness = first derivative of beauty over time. Pure noise (no learnable pattern) and fully-known pattern (already compressed) are both boring. Beauty lives between.
## When to use
- Picking a research question
- Selecting between candidate projects ("which would teach me the most?")
- Diagnosing aesthetic dissatisfaction ("this is fine but not interesting")
- Choosing what to read
## Don't use when
- Fast generation (this is reflective, not generative)
- Group decisions where audiences differ (single-observer model)
## Procedure
### For picking a research question
1. List 510 things you currently *cannot predict well* in your domain. Be specific: not "the future of AI", but "why X 7B model trained with technique A performs worse than Y 1.3B model with technique B on benchmark Z".
2. For each: would understanding it compress only this fact, or re-organize a broader domain? Prefer the latter.
3. For each: is the answer learnable from where you are? (Not noise; not too far above your prior.)
4. Pick the highest learnable compression-progress potential.
### For evaluating ideas
For each candidate, ask:
- What would I understand differently if this were complete?
- Would that understanding compress this domain or only this idea?
- Is it currently learnable from where I am?
Highest answers across all three = pursue.
### For aesthetic critique
Where is the work entirely predictable? (too known) Entirely unpredictable? (too random) Where does it sit in the learnable-but-not-yet-learned zone? Strong work has more of the third.
## Worked example
User has three options:
- A. Build a habit tracker.
- B. Build a tool that explains why a `git rebase --interactive` produced its conflicts, by reconstructing the commit graph mid-rebase.
- C. Read Lacan.
Analysis:
- A: no compression progress; user already has model of habit trackers. Reject.
- B: high. User doesn't currently have strong model of how rebase constructs intermediate states; building this requires learning that, and the resulting model re-organizes how the user thinks about all VCS internals.
- C: real compression-progress potential, but prior is missing. Long path to get there. Worthwhile if on the prerequisite track; otherwise read Žižek/Bruce Fink first as scaffolding.
Recommend B.
## Anti-slop notes
- "Compression progress" as slogan ≠ doing the analysis. State the actual model gaps you'd close.
- Don't claim every idea has high compression-progress. Most don't. The framework is useful because it discriminates.
- Don't impose this lens on artistic work without acknowledging its limits.
Source: people.idsia.ch/~juergen/creativity.html