World of Why
Big world. Bigger questions
Chapter 01 / Paper Planet
Pip takes
a turn.
Pip and 255 paper birds. Give a few a nudge. Who follows?
01 · Birds 02 · Waves No instructions required. Curiosity helps.next?Pip, your fellow explorer
Which bird would you follow?
Getting the flock ready…
Give a few birds a nudge.
What's happening?
Turn nudges birds near the selected bird. Each bird then follows its own local rules. Mint marks directly cued birds; gold to orange marks detected turns. These colors show timing, not proof that a signal travelled.
This is a simplified model, not measured starling behavior. Match neighbors changes alignment strength. Reaction delay changes the age of information used to react. Our characters and scenery are imaginary.
Turn the wheel. Follow the dot.
Combined height
Why a wave?
The dot’s height is sin(θ). A second wheel adds sin(nθ), where n is its speed relative to the first. Gold shows the sum, without rescaling. Each wheel has radius 1; combined height ranges from -2 to 2.
This is an illustration of sine functions and their addition, not a simulation of water or sound. The wheel turns at 1 radian per second during playback. You can always pause and turn it yourself.
The best question
starts with a little play.
Try another world See it on a big screen
Desktop screenshots of these three directions.
