High Noon

Hedonics Driven Development (HDD) — classify software, policy, and life decisions by the human purposes they serve.

Five Packages, One Language

Each works as a CLI, an MCP server (add to Claude/GPT/Cursor), and a Python library.

Quick Start

pip install hedonics
hedonics domains          # 10 hedonic life domains (ENDS)
hedonics costs            # 9 fungible cost categories (MEANS)
hedonics blockers 07      # What costs block CONNECTION?
hedonics classify "reduce loneliness through community"

The Core Idea

Every piece of software, every policy, every life decision serves human purposes (ENDS) and costs human resources (MEANS).

ENDS — 10 hedonic domains of intrinsic value:

01 NOURISHMENT   02 SHELTER    03 HEALTH     04 CARE       05 MOBILITY
06 GROWTH        07 CONNECTION 08 RECREATION 09 EXPRESSION 10 MEANING

MEANS — 9 fungible cost categories:

T TIME    F FINANCIAL   A ATTENTION   P PHYSICAL    S SOCIAL
E ENVIRONMENTAL   R REGULATORY   K KNOWLEDGE   X STATUS

Many ends are locked behind means costs. Someone who wants more CONNECTION (end) might be blocked by TIME burden (means) from a 60-hour work week. The fungibility calculus computes optimal exchanges: trade your FINANCIAL surplus for TIME reduction (hire help, automate) to unlock CONNECTION.

Add to Your LLM

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hedonics":   {"command": "python", "args": ["-m", "hedonics.mcp"]},
    "altpath":    {"command": "python", "args": ["-m", "altpath.mcp"]},
    "highnoon":   {"command": "python", "args": ["-m", "highnoon.mcp"]},
    "mainstreet": {"command": "python", "args": ["-m", "mainstreet.mcp"]},
    "frontpage":  {"command": "python", "args": ["-m", "frontpage.mcp"]}
  }
}

Grounded in Empirical Research

• BLS American Time Use Survey — how humans actually spend their 24 hours
• MIT Living Wage Calculator — what humans need across 8 expenditure categories
• BLS Consumer Price Index — hedonic quality adjustment methodology
• Census American Community Survey — housing, insurance, commuting, income by geography

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. We especially need help with:

• Test coverage (currently zero)
• Data connectors (BLS API, MIT Living Wage, Census ACS)
• Exchange rate calibration from empirical research
• MCP server testing across different LLMs

Status

Pre-alpha. The framework is under active development.

License

MIT

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