The earlier behavior never went quiet — it dreamed every night, even when
that meant repeating itself. The 'return None on null delta' rule was a
synthesis-doc invention (the dreamer-design-spec.md I treated as
authoritative is itself LLM-generated) that didn't match the actual
desired UX. Aaron called this out.
The repetition problem the quiet rule was claimed to solve is already
addressed in the retrieve layer:
- LLM-generated queries from the observation signal vary nightly
- MMR diversity prevents within-night cluster lock-in
- NREM bias toward under-processed chunks (low consolidation_count)
ensures fresh material gets selected over recently-replayed material
So select_mode now always returns a mode. NREM is the default. Staleness
still routes to Late REM at 3+ days for cross-domain variety. Journal
entries still route to Early REM.
aaron
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