State Atlas Working nameChoice over pressure
Choose an intention, duration, and level of guidance. Explain what to expect. Offer silence as a first-class option.
For prospective collaborators
A thoughtful experience.
A buildable foundation.
Start small, keep the experience personal, and earn the next layer of complexity. Here is what exists, what is proposed, and what it could take to build.
Planning draft · October 2026 · No funded delivery commitment or validated commercial forecast.
Working now
Static concept site, text-guided preview, stereo audio sample, curriculum browsing, and research simulation.
Proposed next
Complete guided sessions, a private journal, accessible playback, export, and real-device testing.
Only after validation
Optional accounts and sync, a reviewed research pilot, and any paid offering.
Product design
Design for the moment
someone is actually in.
Before a session, offer a clear choice. During it, keep controls quiet and reachable. Afterward, give the experience time to settle before asking for anything.
Less interface, more room
A legible prompt, adjustable sound, and an obvious pause or return control. No rankings of depth or streak pressure.
Reflection stays personal
An optional journal, a grounded closing, and easy export or deletion. Research participation is a separate decision.
Proposed technical design
Personal by default.
Self-hosted by choice.
The prototype is buildless HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The intended product is a native iOS/Android app: React Native and TypeScript, native Swift/Kotlin audio, and local SQLite. This website demonstrates the idea; it is not the mobile app.
Browser · available now
Experience & audio
Static pages
Web Audio stereo synthesis
Text guidance and controls
Native app · proposed
Personal journal
React Native / TypeScript UI
SQLite private journal
Swift / Kotlin audio and offline playback
Self-hosted services · proposed
Sync & research
FastAPI + PostgreSQL
Caddy HTTPS + Docker Compose
Opt-in sync and governed research
Current data flow: VPS serves files → browser runs the demo. No journal, login, sync, or study API exists. Proposed local storage is not automatically encrypted or backed up; those guarantees require explicit design and testing.
The audio engine
Two sine oscillators feed separate stereo channels. A gain envelope provides a quiet start and scheduled ending. Sound starts only after user action. Page visibility and interruption handling stop playback.
First native milestone: independently generated left/right signals, measured against a known-good Python reference. Then test fades, interruptions, headset removal, and offline/background playback before expanding the content library.
Web Audio implementation reference ↗Quality before features
Test keyboard and screen-reader use, reduced motion, readable contrast, offline failures, and mobile interruptions. Validate consent and deletion before adding shared data.
Test the Lightning iPhone and Galaxy A13 with the ordered wired equipment. The Rigol DS1054Z can support electrical waveform checks with a properly reviewed connection; electrical measurements do not establish headphone sound pressure or mental-state effects.
A staged build
Each stage earns
the next one.
One founder, AI development support, and potentially a research specialist. Small, independently testable milestones keep cash commitments low. No hired engineering team or fixed delivery date is assumed.
A reviewable static concept
Guided text preview, browser stereo audio, curriculum, concept screens, research simulations, and an assumption-based business model.
Next gate: founder and collaborator review before deployment.Reliable stereo before more features
Build a Python reference and minimal Swift/Kotlin audio behind React Native controls. Test actual devices and interruptions.
Exit: repeatable channel, frequency, and lifecycle checks.Explore, return, and keep a private note
Original script and transcript, a comfortable exit, local SQLite journal, and tested export/deletion. Then expand the reviewed curriculum.
Exit: a usable journey on both target phones.Self-hosted services and reviewed studies
FastAPI modular monolith, PostgreSQL, Compose, encrypted off-server backups, and explicit research consent. No Firebase or Supabase dependency.
Exit: privacy, security, ethics, and statistical gates satisfied.Time is a real investment even when development is self-funded. Track actual effort during the first audio milestone before estimating a full release. Seek scoped quotes only for work that needs outside expertise.
Start with what is already available
A practical bench.
A small first step.
Founder-reported resources: a MacBook Pro, Lightning iPhone, Galaxy A13, Rigol DS1054Z, app-store developer access, existing VPS infrastructure, and time to test carefully.
Hardware on order
Sony MDR-ZX110 headphones, an Apple Lightning-to-3.5 mm adapter, and a male TRS breakout. Delivery status should be checked before physical testing; no new laboratory purchase is assumed.
A controlled deployment
The founder owns stateatlas.space. Domain ownership is confirmed; name clearance, DNS, and production deployment are separate matters. Keep development, staging, and production distinct, with review before changes reach the public.
A proposed business model
An accessible beginning.
More room to explore.
The opportunity we want to test: an accessible alternative for people exploring consciousness, built with our own original audio, exercises, and software. A free starting point, with optional subscriptions for a deeper library and more capable tools.
Explorer
Free
A welcoming place to begin.
- Introductory sessions
- Basic journal
- Limited experiments
Plus
$7.99 / month
A fuller personal practice.
- Full training library
- Custom audio
- Advanced insights
Researcher
$14.99 / month
More tools for careful inquiry.
- Advanced experiments
- Data exports
- Personal analytics
Academic
Custom
Support for reviewed research.
- Managed studies
- Approved recruitment tools
- Research exports
Proposed prices in USD, not validated market rates. These are planned offerings, not subscriptions available to buy. We would test demand before assuming users will subscribe. Academic scope and pricing would be agreed separately.
Insights and analytics would summarize personal records, not diagnose conditions or score consciousness. A paid plan would not replace study consent or ethics review. Research participation will never require payment. Final tool entitlements and personal-data portability remain to be designed. This independent project does not use or claim equivalence to Monroe recordings.
Planning scenarios, not forecasts
Make the assumptions
visible.
There are no measured adoption or conversion figures yet. Explore what different scales would imply. Dollar amounts below are USD modeling inputs, not supplier prices or a decision to charge.
Remaining paying users use Plus. Proposed prices: Plus $7.99/month; Researcher $14.99/month. Explorer is free. Academic revenue is excluded.
Defaults are deliberately hypothetical. Pilot: 50 users, 0% paid, $10 infrastructure, 4 support hours. Growing: 500, 3%, $30, 12 hours. Larger: 5,000, 5%, $100, 40 hours. All assume 80% of paying users choose Plus and 20% choose Researcher, plus $30/hour for support. The paid-plan mix is adjustable and unvalidated.
Monthly scenario
Gross revenue$0
Infrastructure + valued support time$130
Contribution before other costs−$130
Contribution is not profit. Excludes payment fees, taxes, content production, marketing, ongoing engineering, legal/ethics review, backups beyond the infrastructure allowance, and recovery of build costs. Unpaid support is still valued as time in this model.
Audio delivery assumption
Illustrative future recorded audio: 20 minutes/session at 96 kbps, 8 sessions/user/month. Decimal GB, before caching or repeat downloads. The current synthesized tone demo needs no audio file transfer.
Show formulas and build-cost assumptions
Paying users = monthly active users × paying share. Researcher users = paying users × Researcher share; Plus users = the remaining paying users. Gross revenue = Plus users × $7.99 + Researcher users × $14.99. Explorer generates no subscription revenue; Academic revenue is excluded because custom contracts have not been scoped. Modeled costs = infrastructure budget + support hours × $30. Contribution = gross revenue − modeled costs. Fractional paying-user counts are expected-value arithmetic, not actual subscribers.
Audio GB/month = users × 8 sessions × 20 minutes × 60 seconds × 96,000 bits/second ÷ 8 ÷ 1,000,000,000. Compare this with the actual VPS bandwidth allowance before choosing recorded-audio hosting.
Build-cost approach: use founder time and existing equipment first. Record actual hours, identify outside content/science/security review needs, and obtain scoped quotes before committing cash. No salaried-team labor budget or full-release schedule is assumed.
Using an existing VPS may add no immediate hosting invoice if it has spare resources and allowance. Its capacity, traffic allowance, security configuration, and marginal cost have not been inspected. No growth trajectory, launch date, or revenue outcome is predicted.
What would change the plan?
Learn before
committing to scale.
Start by learning whether people understand the journey, feel able to stop, and want to return. Decide on sustainability after the experience has earned its place.
Experience validation
Can first-time explorers complete and close a session comfortably? Which guidance helps, and which feels distracting or unclear?
Technical validation
Does playback behave correctly on the actual phones and headphones? Can notes be exported and deleted reliably? What happens when storage is cleared?
Sustainability
Measure real return visits, support needs, and willingness to contribute—with consent. Test the Explorer, Plus, Researcher, and Academic proposal before committing to pricing or paid-plan entitlements.