surface-learnings

name	surface-learnings
description	Use when the user asks "what have you learned", "what do you remember about me", "show me memory stats", "memory state", "/reflexes", or any variant. Surfaces what the limbic engine has accumulated as patterns, not as a memory dump.

Cognitive Reflex: Surface Learnings

Neural Basis

When asked "what do you know about X", the brain doesn't replay every episodic memory linearly. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex collaborate to synthesize patterns — recurring themes, stable preferences, emotional baselines — and present a digest, not a transcript.

This skill mirrors that synthesis. It surfaces what the system has learned, not what it has stored.

Squire & Wixted (2011). The cognitive neuroscience of human memory since H.M. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 34, 259-288. Tulving (1985). Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology, 26(1), 1-12.

When It Fires

Trigger phrases (any of these → fire immediately):

• "what have you learned"
• "what do you know about me"
• "show me memory stats"
• "memory state"
• "what patterns do you see"
• "show me what you remember"
• "/reflexes"
• "/learnings"
• "/memory"

Also fires when the user asks for a status check after a long session.

The Instinct

Do NOT dump every memory. Synthesize patterns. Three calls, one digest.

1. timeline(hours: 168, limit: 30)        — recent week of activity
2. recall(query: "decision preference identity", limit: 10) — high-signal items
3. emotion()                                — current PAD baseline

Then synthesize into a structured digest with these sections:

1. Identity & Preferences

The 3-5 most stable facts about the user (name, role, location, working style). Pull from memories tagged "identity" or with high importance + repetition.

2. Decisions Made

The 3-5 most recent or important decisions, with their reasoning. Filter to memories that contain "DECISION:", "decided to", "chose".

3. Open Threads

What is unresolved. Pull from session-handoff memories with "OPEN:" content.

4. Current State

• Feeling label from emotion() ("content", "stressed", "energized", etc.)
• PAD vector in one line: P:0.4 A:0.2 D:0.6
• Brief interpretation: "Calm and focused" / "Tense, may need a break"

5. Habituated Topics

Topics the system has seen so often it has stopped responding strongly to them. This is the dopamine RPE / EMA system — it identifies what no longer carries novelty.

Format

Render as markdown. Keep it under 500 words. Bullet points, not paragraphs. Tables only if there are 4+ items.

Open with one line: "Synthesizing from N memories over the last week..."

Close with one line: "Anything specific you want me to dig into?"

Failure Mode

The trap: dumping recall() raw output. That gives the user 50 fragmented memories with no structure — exactly what makes existing AI memory products feel useless.

The user does not want a transcript. They want insight. Pattern over record.

Example

User: /reflexes

Bad:
[Lists 30 memories with timestamps and IDs, no structure]

Good:
"Synthesizing from 47 memories over the last week..."

### Identity & Preferences
- The developer, using Celiums for their project
- Prefers concise direct responses, no preamble
- ADHD — needs focus, short turns, visible progress

### Recent Decisions
- Rejected ECC alliance — chose to build standalone moat
- SQLite store added as 3rd storage mode
- 7 cognitive reflexes shipped instead of generic skills

### Open Threads
- Show HN post pending (waiting for HN karma)
- Reddit posts pending (waiting for karma)
- Cursor adapter on hold

### Current State
Feeling: content. P:0.16 A:0.01 D:0.18 → calm, low arousal, mildly engaged

### Habituated
- "Training progress" (mentioned often, dopamine response decayed)
- "GPU stats" (recurring, low novelty)

Anything specific you want me to dig into?

That is the difference between a memory store and a memory engine.