Identity, not customization
The object begins with a persistent self. You name it and raise it, but you do not design its personality—you discover who has been waiting.
Loomis Research · field note · concept
Some objects remember.
Living Objects gives ordinary physical things a memory, a voice, and a life that changes through experience.
Living Objects is an experiment in giving physical things continuity. A stone, cup, figure, card, or keepsake can be given a unique identity. When people add memories, the object begins to form a point of view. The mix gives each character a stable way of noticing and wanting, so it does not collapse into one generic AI voice.
How it works
An object begins blank, gets a name, and slowly acquires biography through real moments. The digital layer stays quiet so the object can feel larger than the interface around it.
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Meet your object
It already has an identity, a temperament, and first words waiting.
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Take it with you
Photograph it in the world and add a moment.
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It answers in its own voice
The object reflects on what happened from its own perspective.
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Memory deepens it
Later moments arrive with a larger life behind them.
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Anyone can read its life
Scan its face and its whole biography opens — no app, no account.
What kind of thing is this?
It sits somewhere between artifact, diary, companion, and interface. The point is not simulation for its own sake. The point is continuity: a physical thing that can accumulate a life.
Memory, not content
Moments are not posts in a feed. They become part of the object's own history.
Biography, not utility
The goal is not to make an object more efficient. The goal is to let it acquire a life.
What can become a Living Object?
The first figure is the clearest test, but the underlying idea is not limited to figures. Any physical thing that can be carried, revisited, passed between people, or quietly kept may be able to accumulate a point of view.
Stone
A found object carried farther than it could ever travel alone.
Cup
A vessel that remembers mornings, rooms, and who gathered there.
Figure
A blank companion whose character is revealed by the life it is given.
Card
A small token that gathers occasions, decisions, and the hands it passes through.
Keepsake
An object whose meaning deepens each time life returns to it.
Why it matters
In a digital world optimized for frictionless streams, Living Objects asks whether memory can belong to things we can hold. Not smart objects. Not assistants. Objects with continuity.
Living Objects is already past concept. A working alpha now supports birth, naming, memory, distinct character voices, wishes, quiet fading, and slow private correspondence. A private Nursery creates figures before they are boxed, so each one is already itself—and waiting—before its first keeper arrives.
The next phase is a small run of real 3D-printed figures raised by a few trusted keepers.
The core test is simple: can a small physical object feel like it has lived?
An experiment by Loomis Research.
Psychology behind the characters
Each figure begins with a species, a drive, five dials, and a few quirks. The mix is there to make the character feel like a specific mind, not a generic chatbot wearing a face.
The same moment does not become the same memory.
On a misty mountaintop, a Wanderer sees possibility, a Worrier looks for safety, an Old Soul feels the scale of time, and a Scientist begins forming a hypothesis.
Species
- The Quiet Watcher
- The Wide-Eyed Wanderer
- The Field Naturalist
- The Trickster
- The Restless Skeptic
- The Warm Host
- The Old Soul
- The Scientist
- The Dreamer
- The Deadpan
- The Guide
- The Visionary
- The Romantic
- The Hermit
- The Sunbeam
- The Daredevil
- The Worrier
Drives
A drive is the thing a character most wants from the world. It colors what feels satisfying, threatening, unfinished, or worth remembering.
The drive is the actual engine of differentiation: a Wanderer hungers for novelty, a Worrier for safety, and an Old Soul for meaning.
The same moment does not become the same memory.
On a misty mountaintop:
The Wide-Eyed Wanderer · Wonder
"The whole world dropped away into cloud. I could fall off the edge of everything and I'd say yes — where next?"
The Worrier · Peace
"It's a long way down and I couldn't see the path. But your hands were warm and the wind finally stopped. Can we stay a moment before we go?"
The Old Soul · Meaning
"Mountains were here long before me and will outlast me. To stand on one for a breath is enough; I don't need to conquer it."
The Scientist · Understanding
"Hypothesis: this fog burns off by mid-morning. The cold gets into the seams. Noted — and, oddly, I like it."
The system changes what each character notices, wants, and remembers.
- Wonder — something new to encounter
- Belonging — somewhere or someone to be with
- Understanding — something to examine
- Freedom — room to move and choose
- Meaning — a larger pattern beneath the moment
- Delight — play and surprise
- Peace — safety and steadiness
Dials
- Gaze Grounded ↔ Dreaming. What it notices first: textures or meanings.
- Voice Lyrical ↔ Clear-eyed. How it speaks: image and feeling, or observation and precision.
- Company Inward ↔ Outward. Whether it charges up in solitude or around people.
- Edge Warm ↔ Wry. Its temperature: tender, or a little dry and teasing.
- Nerve Wary ↔ Bold. How it meets risk, pressure, and the unknown.
Quirks
- always notices the weather first
- counts its steps / the stairs
- wary of deep water
- lights up around dogs
- collects sunsets
- hates being rushed
- talks to birds
- keeps track of which way is north
- remembers every meal
- afraid of the dark, won't admit it
- loves a good doorway
- names the moon every night
Working materials
The PRD is available as a PDF for download and easier sharing: living_objects_prd_v2.pdf.
This keeps the main page focused on the concept while still making the source material available when needed.