Zeitgeist Watcher

Recipe: Zeitgeist Watcher

“The collective consciousness of the moment — what’s hot right now?”

The Problem

Tracking “trending” topics traditionally requires:

Counting events over time windows (COUNT(*) WHERE timestamp > NOW() - INTERVAL)
Complex decay functions for “velocity”
Separate cron jobs for cleanup
Arbitrary thresholds for “trending”

What if trending was just high energy?

The Pattern

graph LR
    subgraph "Topic Energy States"
        A[bitcoin<br/>E=0.95] --- Hot[🔥 HOT]
        B[ethereum<br/>E=0.6] --- Warm[🌡️ WARM]
        C[dogecoin<br/>E=0.2] --- Cold[❄️ COLD]
        D[defunct_coin<br/>E=0.01] --- Dormant[💀 DORMANT]
    end

Key insight:

Each mention/event stimulates the topic
Natural decay replaces explicit window-based TTLs
Consciousness threshold (mood-dependent) defines “trending”
Topics that stop being mentioned naturally fade

The Code

import { MindFry } from '@mindfry/client'

class ZeitgeistWatcher {
  private brain: MindFry
  private namespace: string

  constructor(brain: MindFry, namespace = 'topics') {
    this.brain = brain
    this.namespace = namespace
  }

  // Called every time a topic is mentioned
  async recordMention(topic: string, weight = 0.1) {
    const key = `${this.namespace}:${topic}`

    try {
      // Try to stimulate existing topic
      await this.brain.lineage.stimulate({
        key,
        delta: weight,
      })
    } catch (e) {
      // Topic doesn't exist yet — create it
      await this.brain.lineage.create({
        key,
        energy: weight,
      })
    }
  }

  // Record co-occurrence (topics mentioned together)
  async recordCoOccurrence(topicA: string, topicB: string) {
    const keyA = `${this.namespace}:${topicA}`
    const keyB = `${this.namespace}:${topicB}`

    // Create or strengthen synergy bond
    await this.brain.bond.connect({
      from: keyA,
      to: keyB,
      strength: 0.5,
      polarity: 1, // Synergy
    })
  }

  // Get trending topics (above consciousness threshold)
  async getTrending(limit = 10): Promise<string[]> {
    // Set high mood to capture more topics
    await this.brain.system.setMood(0.7)

    // In a full implementation, you'd query for
    // all lineages in namespace with energy > threshold
    // For now, this is conceptual

    const stats = await this.brain.system.stats()
    console.log(`Total topics tracked: ${stats.lineage_count}`)

    // Placeholder: return would be sorted by energy
    return []
  }

  // Get related trending topics
  async getRelated(topic: string): Promise<string[]> {
    const key = `${this.namespace}:${topic}`

    // Stimulate and let propagation reveal related topics
    await this.brain.lineage.stimulate({
      key,
      delta: 0.3,
    })

    // Query neighbors that received cascade energy
    const neighbors = await this.brain.query.neighbors(key)
    return neighbors.map((n) => n.key.replace(`${this.namespace}:`, ''))
  }
}

// Usage
async function trackSocialMedia(brain: MindFry) {
  const zeitgeist = new ZeitgeistWatcher(brain)

  // Simulate incoming mentions
  await zeitgeist.recordMention('bitcoin', 0.2)
  await zeitgeist.recordMention('bitcoin', 0.15)
  await zeitgeist.recordMention('ethereum', 0.1)
  await zeitgeist.recordMention('bitcoin', 0.25) // Another spike

  // Record that bitcoin and ethereum were mentioned together
  await zeitgeist.recordCoOccurrence('bitcoin', 'ethereum')

  // Later: bitcoin naturally decays if not mentioned
  // No cron job needed — just wait

  // Get what's currently hot
  const trending = await zeitgeist.getTrending(5)
  console.log('🔥 Trending:', trending)
}

The Insight

Energy Thresholds as Categories

function categorizeEnergy(energy: number): string {
  if (energy > 0.8) return '🔥 HOT'
  if (energy > 0.5) return '🌡️ WARM'
  if (energy > 0.2) return '❄️ COLD'
  if (energy > 0.05) return '😴 DORMANT'
  return '💀 FORGOTTEN'
}

Mood as Trend Sensitivity

// Broad trend capture (include warm topics)
await brain.system.setMood(0.9) // Euphoric: low threshold
const broadTrends = await zeitgeist.getTrending(20)

// Strict trending (only truly hot)
await brain.system.setMood(0.3) // Focused: high threshold
const strictTrends = await zeitgeist.getTrending(5)

When you stimulate “bitcoin”, synergy bonds cascade to related topics:

graph TD
    BTC[bitcoin<br/>+1.0] -->|synergy| ETH[ethereum<br/>+0.5]
    BTC -->|synergy| CRYPTO[crypto<br/>+0.5]
    ETH -->|synergy| DEFI[defi<br/>+0.25]
    BTC -->|antagonism| FIAT[fiat<br/>-0.4]

This means searching for “bitcoin trends” automatically surfaces the entire crypto zeitgeist.

Real-World Integration

// Hook into event stream
eventBus.on('social_mention', async (event) => {
  await zeitgeist.recordMention(event.topic, event.sentiment)

  if (event.coMentions) {
    for (const coTopic of event.coMentions) {
      await zeitgeist.recordCoOccurrence(event.topic, coTopic)
    }
  }
})

// Periodic trending report
setInterval(async () => {
  const hot = await zeitgeist.getTrending(10)
  console.log(`[${new Date().toISOString()}] 🔥 Hot topics:`, hot)
}, 60_000) // Every minute

Next: Explore the Architecture to understand how MindFry makes this possible.