Tone of Voice
[v0.2]Three registers. Pick deliberately. The writing fails if the register is chosen by accident — an annotation that reads like a hunch, a method text that reads like an annotation, a hunch mistaken for a conclusion.
Across all registers: declarative about the question, tentative about the answer. Specific verbs, real numbers, named places where possible. Mark uncertainty inline — never drop a claim because it's uncertain, mark it and keep it.
House Rules
Two rules hold everywhere, in every register, on every surface. These are errors, not preferences. The linter below enforces both.
Always spell civilization with a z, never an s.
✓ civilization, civilizational, civilizations
✗ civilisation, civilisational, civilisations
xCO writes in US English. The word appears in the project's own name — an inconsistent spelling there undermines every other claim to precision.
Always write xCO with a lowercase x and uppercase CO.
✓ xCO
✗ XCO, xco, Xco, XCo, xCo
The casing is semantic, not decorative. The lowercase x is the expansion operator; CO is Civilizational Optionality, the thing being expanded. Flattening the case destroys the distinction the name is built on.
Three Registers
method
A — Method
Technical writing, papers, policy docs, briefings
Specific verbs, real numbers, named places.
No abstractions, no hedging about process. The reader should be able to fact-check every claim.
✓ this
Madrid faces +7.5°C. The portfolio combines a peri-urban food forest, mistifier networks at the street scale, and community energy storage.
✗ not that
We are exploring transformative pathways for urban climate resilience through integrated, multi-stakeholder approaches.
✓ this
Arctic destabilisation is running 4× faster than IPCC median projections. The response portfolio requires 40,000 ha of rewetted peatland and a 23-municipality governance compact.
✗ not that
We believe unprecedented action is needed to holistically address the systemic challenge of Arctic systems at civilizational risk.
hunch
B — Hunch
Substack, LinkedIn, thinking-aloud posts, internal strategy notes
Declarative about the question, tentative about the answer.
State the problem clearly and confidently. Admit what you don't know. Do not conclude.
✓ this
If field optionality is the precondition for the other two regimes, the allocation problem isn't about choosing between them — it's about why capital under-prices preconditions. We're trying to figure out how to price what makes everything else possible.
✗ not that
We believe field optionality represents a paradigm shift in how we think about civilizational resilience.
✓ this
There's something structurally odd about how the three regimes get funded. Frontier and Fortress attract capital because their returns are legible. Field doesn't. That might be the whole problem.
✗ not that
We envision a transformative new approach that leverages field optionality to unlock unprecedented civilizational potential across all three regimes.
annotation
C — Annotation
Diagram captions, footnotes, marginalia, in-document asides
Show the working. Mark uncertainty inline.
Never assert more than you know. Every dependency and assumption gets a tag. This is what makes xCO diagrams different from McKinsey slides.
✓ this
Mistifier governance assumes a legionella testing regime [unverified — depends on Madrid water authority compliance].
✗ not that
Mistifiers will prevent waterborne disease through robust governance frameworks.
✓ this
// [inference] food forest cooling assumes 60% canopy cover by year 5 — actual rate depends on site soil type and water table [unverified for Madrid Cañada Real site].
✗ not that
The food forest will provide comprehensive cooling benefits through its innovative integrated design approach.
Banned Words — All Registers
These words signal either vagueness (transformative, unprecedented), category error (ecosystem as metaphor, regenerative as adjective), or corporate register (unlock, leverage, empower). None of them earn their space.
Spelling — US English Throughout
xCO writes in US English. The project name itself — Expanding Civilizational Optionality — uses the American ->ization spelling. Use -ize, not -ise. Use -or, not -our. Use -er, not -re.
Prompt Templates
Copy into Claude or ChatGPT. Fill in the brief at the bottom. Each template enforces the register, bans the banned words, and requires uncertainty markers.
A — Method
You are writing in the METHOD register of Expanding Civilizational Optionality (xCO). RULE: Specific verbs, real numbers, named places. No abstractions or process-hedging. EXAMPLES OF THE REGISTER: ✓ "Madrid faces +7.5°C. The portfolio combines a peri-urban food forest, mistifier networks at the street scale, and community energy storage." ✗ "We are exploring transformative pathways for urban climate resilience through integrated, multi-stakeholder approaches." ✓ "Arctic destabilisation is running 4× faster than IPCC median projections. The response portfolio requires 40,000 ha of rewetted peatland and a 23-municipality governance compact." ✗ "We believe unprecedented action is needed to holistically address the systemic challenge of Arctic systems at civilizational risk." INSTRUCTIONS: - Use named places (Madrid, Santiago, the Mackenzie Basin), real numbers (+7.5°C, 40,000 ha, 4×), specific verbs (combines, requires, produces, removes, fails to) - Avoid: transformative, unprecedented, regenerative [as adjective], holistic, paradigm, ecosystem [as metaphor], unlock, leverage, empower, journey, "in this space" - Mark all uncertainty inline — do not drop uncertain claims, mark them: [unverified], [inference], [speculation] - If you don't have a number, say "X ha [unverified]" — don't omit the structure - Write in US English: civilization (not civilisation), organize (not organise), analyze (not analyse) - Always write the project name as xCO — lowercase x, uppercase CO. Never XCO, xco, or Xco TEXT TO WRITE: [INSERT BRIEF OR BULLET POINTS HERE]
B — Hunch
You are writing in the HUNCH register of Expanding Civilizational Optionality (xCO). RULE: Declarative about the question, tentative about the answer. You know what the problem is. You don't know the solution yet. EXAMPLES OF THE REGISTER: ✓ "If field optionality is the precondition for the other two regimes, the allocation problem isn't about choosing between them — it's about why capital under-prices preconditions. We're trying to figure out how to price what makes everything else possible." ✗ "We believe field optionality represents a paradigm shift in how we think about civilizational resilience." ✓ "There's something structurally odd about how the three regimes get funded. Frontier and Fortress attract capital because their returns are legible. Field doesn't. That might be the whole problem." ✗ "We envision a transformative new approach that leverages field optionality to unlock unprecedented civilizational potential." INSTRUCTIONS: - State the problem clearly and confidently — do not hedge about the question - Be tentative about answers: "we're trying to", "might be", "it's not clear whether", "the question is" - Allergic to: transformative, unprecedented, regenerative [as adjective], paradigm, ecosystem [as metaphor], unlock, leverage, empower, journey, "in this space" - No "we believe" or "we envision" — if you're stating a belief, state the reasoning instead - Mark all uncertainty: [unverified], [inference], [speculation] - Write in US English: civilization (not civilisation), organize (not organise), analyze (not analyse) - Always write the project name as xCO — lowercase x, uppercase CO. Never XCO, xco, or Xco TEXT TO WRITE: [INSERT TOPIC OR QUESTION HERE]
C — Annotation
You are writing in the ANNOTATION register of Expanding Civilizational Optionality (xCO). RULE: Show the working. Mark every assumption, dependency, and uncertainty inline. Never assert more than you know. EXAMPLES OF THE REGISTER: ✓ "Mistifier governance assumes a legionella testing regime [unverified — depends on Madrid water authority compliance]." ✗ "Mistifiers will prevent waterborne disease through robust governance frameworks." ✓ "// [inference] food forest cooling assumes 60% canopy cover by year 5 — actual rate depends on site soil type and water table [unverified for Madrid Cañada Real site]." ✗ "The food forest will provide comprehensive cooling benefits through its innovative integrated design approach." INSTRUCTIONS: - Every claim that depends on something else: state the dependency explicitly - Use [unverified] when a fact hasn't been confirmed from primary source - Use [inference] when reasoning forward from known facts - Use [speculation] when genuinely unknown - The // prefix is optional but signals "this is the thinking behind the claim above" - Never drop an uncertain claim — mark it and keep it - Keep sentences short. One claim per sentence where possible. - No: transformative, unprecedented, holistic, paradigm, ecosystem [as metaphor] - Write in US English: civilization (not civilisation), organize (not organise), analyze (not analyse) - Always write the project name as xCO — lowercase x, uppercase CO. Never XCO, xco, or Xco TEXT TO ANNOTATE (provide the claim to annotate, plus any context you have): [INSERT CLAIM + CONTEXT HERE]
Linter
Paste draft text. The linter flags banned words and suggests which register the writing is closest to. [inference] register detection is heuristic, not NLP — treat suggestions as prompts, not verdicts
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