Interactive Visualizers

A reusable TypeScript/React framework for embeddable interactive scientific and philosophical visualizers.

Purpose

This project produces professional-quality interactive visualizers for an academic personal website. The visualizers must be:

• Scientifically rigorous
• Philosophically careful
• Visually intuitive
• Elegant and professional
• Pedagogically strong
• Modular and reusable
• Easy to extend

Visualizer Families

The first wave includes these families:

Family	Status	Source Support
Signaling Games & Compositionality	Implementation candidate	Strong
Factionalization & Polarization	Implementation candidate	Strong
Manifold Learning	Implementation candidate	Strong
Zollman Effect	Implementation candidate	Partial
Deep Learning Intuition	Partial candidate	Partial
LLM Visualizers	Conservative candidate	Limited
QFT Particles (DOF)	Spec only	Gap
Norton's Dome	Spec only	Gap
Maxwell's Demon	Spec only	Gap

Project Structure

interactive-visualizers/
├── apps/
│   └── showcase/           # Demo/showcase application
├── packages/
│   ├── core-ui/            # Shared UI primitives
│   ├── core-math/          # Mathematical utilities
│   ├── core-sim/           # Simulation framework
│   ├── core-content/       # Content/explanation structures
│   └── viz-*/              # Individual visualizer packages
├── docs/
│   ├── paper-notes/        # Source paper summaries
│   ├── visualizer-specs/   # Per-family specifications
│   └── *.md                # Architecture and standards
├── content/                # Explanatory content
└── source_materials/       # Primary sources (papers, notes)

Stack

• Framework: React + TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS
• Visualization: D3.js, SVG (Canvas only when needed)
• 3D: three.js (only when true 3D value exists)

Scientific Standards

Every visualizer must be labeled as one of:

• Exact model: Faithful mathematical representation
• Standard toy model: Simplified using established formalisms
• Conceptual analogy: Illustrative, not literal
• Theorem intuition builder: Helps build intuition for formal results

See docs/scientific-integrity.md for full standards.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run showcase app
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

Documentation

• docs/architecture.md - System architecture
• docs/scientific-integrity.md - Scientific standards
• docs/visual-design-principles.md - Design guidelines
• docs/testing-strategy.md - Testing approach
• docs/adding-a-new-visualizer.md - Extension guide
• docs/progress-report.md - Current status

License

TBD

Author

David Peter Wallis Freeborn Assistant Professor in Philosophy Northeastern University London