Mode 1 — Parallel
1-shot comparison. Dad sends one prompt and every seat answers at the same time, so nobody has seen anyone else's answer yet. Pick one to continue 1:1, or pick a coordinator for Perplexity-style comparative analysis.
Mode 2 — Council with context
The conversation accumulates: every call carries the active branch so far (lesson 2), so every seat knows what has been said. Three turn patterns:
- Broadcast — all brains respond in parallel (new round)
- Point — one brain gets the turn (with optional Dad comment)
- Point-only — turn passed silently ('Dad stayed silent.')
N seats + Dad = N+1 participants. Dad's participation per turn is optional.
Why two modes, not three
Originally there was a third mode (Debate). It collapsed into Mode 2's Point pattern. Same mechanism, different usage pattern — no need for a separate mode in code.
Since Phase D (lesson 7) both modes run on the same participant engine. What the mode switch still changes is the table's controls: Point and Point-only appear only in council mode.
Mode 1 is for comparing independent judgments. No earlier answer contaminates the next model's framing, so it is the right tool for first impressions, risk lists, and estimates. Mode 2 is for when the seats need to push back on each other and build up the reasons for a decision. The same roster can call for a different context policy once the question's purpose changes.
Mixing the two makes results hard to read. Call it an independent comparison and then show the first answer to the next participant, and you get anchoring; call it a council and strip the transcript, and the seats just repeat themselves. What matters more than the mode's name is a record of what each participant saw on that turn.
Not making Debate its own mode shows the same principle. Give one participant the floor with Point to rebut, Broadcast when everyone should answer again, and the same runtime becomes a debate. Compose small turn primitives rather than growing a backend enum for every usage scenario.
To choose, write the purpose in one sentence. "Compare first judgments that did not influence each other" is Parallel; "read the earlier arguments and build a better joint conclusion" is Council. A mode that promises both at once usually blurs both.