why text
========

from the dreambook, drawing on david jacobson's research at brandeis:

narrow bandwidth doesn't impoverish experience, it enriches imagination. when
you read "a torch flickers against wet stone walls" your brain builds a
cathedral. VR hands you someone else's cathedral.

text worlds are collaborative hallucinations between the author and the reader.

the MOO community proved this for decades. LambdaMOO, MediaMOO, PMC-MOO —
people formed real relationships, built real communities, lived real social
lives through nothing but text on a terminal.

presence isn't about polygons. presence is about engagement, attention, the
feeling that you are *there* and that what happens *matters*.

what the research showed
------------------------

- presence comes from engagement, not fidelity
- identity is constructed through language (description, emotes, speech)
- community forms through shared space and shared creation
- the mask enables authenticity — removing physical cues lets people construct
  identity more deliberately. that's not deception, it's freedom.
