Ambient Threshold (AT-0)
AT-0 is the minimal thermodynamic point where a system begins to carry enough warmth for attention to decompress. Below AT-0, the user remains inside the vigilance basin (B₁). At AT-0, ψ(t) begins to fall and ΔR becomes reachable.
AT-0 is not a feature or an emotion. It is a structural threshold: the first moment where architecture, not the human, starts carrying part of the coherence load.
Position in the Thermodynamic Sequence
AT-0 sits between extractive design and ambient coherence:
extractive → AT-0 → ΔR → B₂ → F₁ → F₂
Without AT-0, ΔR cannot be crossed. Without ΔR, B₁ cannot collapse. Without the collapse of B₁, no system can ever enter the ambient regime.
Functional Meaning
- attention begins to decompress
- prediction pressure stops rising
- coherence becomes partially environmental
- trust transitions from psychological to structural potential
AT-0 is the universal precondition for humane systems: the moment where ambience becomes possible.
“AT-0 is where vigilance loosens and the world takes its first breath alongside you.”