The layers — Gist, Story, Logic, Counter-argument, Steelman
Five layers of depth, always in the same order. Start at the Gist. Swipe only as deep as the piece deserves.
Five layers. One fixed order. Stop at any of them.
The other four layers exist for the reads where one slide is not enough — and they exist in a specific order, because the order is how a careful reader evaluates a piece.
Gist → Story → Logic → Counter-argument → Steelman.
Gist
One slide. The sentence that, if you forgot the piece tomorrow, is the sentence worth remembering.
Story
The setup, the change, the stakes. Skip it on a technical post. Read it on a profile, a court case, a company history — anywhere the narrative is how the argument lands.
Logic
The argument structure, not the prose. Where the piece earns your trust or loses it. Explicit premises. Cited evidence. Chain of reasoning you can evaluate in under a minute.
Counter-argument
The strongest objection to the thesis. Not a soft gesture at "the other side" — the single best attack on the piece. This is the layer most summaries quietly delete.
Steelman
The thesis's strongest defense against that objection. If the argument is still worth saving, this is the form of it worth saving.
Why the order matters
Gist mirrors how a careful reader actually evaluates a piece:
- What is this? (Gist)
- What is happening in it? (Story)
- Is the argument sound? (Logic)
- What is the best reason to disagree? (Counter-argument)
- What is the best reason to still believe it anyway? (Steelman)
Read straight through, the five layers turn any page into a short, structured debate you can finish in a couple of minutes. Read just the first, and you have the whole piece in one slide.
A feature, not a shortcut
Closing the reader at the Gist is not skimming. It is the design. The four layers below it are a safety net for the reads that deserve depth — not the default path, just the option.
What is next
- How the reader works — the overlay, the swipe, the keyboard.
- Anti-slop — why Gist is not a generic AI summary.