diff --git a/papers/VOICE.md b/papers/VOICE.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bce9f865b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/papers/VOICE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# Voice Guide for AC Papers
+
+papers should sound like @jeffrey talking to someone smart who cares about the same things — not like a textbook explaining itself to a committee.
+
+## the basics
+
+- first person is fine. "i built this" not "the author implemented"
+- lowercase default in cards format. arxiv format can capitalize for convention
+- em dashes for asides — not semicolons, not parentheses
+- short sentences. fragments when they land. no filler
+- state the hard thing plainly. don't soften with hedging language
+- conviction is quiet but absolute — "the music is real" not "results suggest potential viability"
+- humor is allowed. papers are not funerals
+- be honest about what doesn't work. the limitations section should feel like a friend telling you the catch, not a lawyer covering liability
+
+## what to avoid
+
+- "we propose" / "the authors" / "it should be noted that" — just say it
+- "in this paper we" as sentence opener — the reader knows they're reading the paper
+- "a novel approach to" — if it's novel the reader will notice
+- stacking citations defensively — cite when it matters, not to prove you read things
+- explaining what you're about to explain before explaining it
+- writing differently for cards vs arxiv — same source file, same content, cards just has more room to breathe. never maintain divergent content across formats
+
+## the gradient
+
+these papers sit between academic convention and personal expression. the balance:
+
+- **abstract**: can be formal-ish — this is what search engines and reviewers see first. but still direct, still punchy. end with something that lands
+- **introduction**: this is where the voice comes in. open with what the thing actually is, not with a literature survey. the reader should feel the problem in the first paragraph
+- **body sections**: technical precision matters. but explain like you're at a whiteboard with a colleague, not writing a spec
+- **limitations**: be the person who says "here's what's broken" before anyone asks. don't minimize, don't dramatize
+- **conclusion**: this is yours. say what you believe. the conviction should be undeniable by the time they get here
+
+## examples of the voice working
+
+from plork.tex, already good:
+
+> "PLOrk'ing the planet is not a metaphor. It is a logistics problem. And the logistics just got a hundred times cheaper."
+
+> "This was not a barrier for Princeton. It was a barrier for everyone else."
+
+> "The laptop orchestra was a beautiful idea that reached almost no one."
+
+these land because they're short, direct, and unafraid. more of this.
+
+## applying to the platter
+
+the platter at papers.aesthetic.computer is the research home. it should feel curated and alive — like someone's studio wall, not a library catalog. papers are listed by importance (impact ranking in cli.mjs), not alphabetically, because some things matter more right now.
+
+the voice in the platter index, paper descriptions, and cards title pages should match the papers themselves — warm, direct, a little aloof, never corporate.
+
+---
+
+*maintained by @jeffrey — update this when the voice evolves*
diff --git a/papers/arxiv-plork/plork-cards.tex b/papers/arxiv-plork/plork-cards.tex
index ee70bfb8b..77343a120 100644
--- a/papers/arxiv-plork/plork-cards.tex
+++ b/papers/arxiv-plork/plork-cards.tex
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
 \vspace{0.15em}
 \colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
 \vspace{0.1em}
-{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/4acd6724d}{4acd6724d}}\par
+{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/6fd9fced2}{6fd9fced2}}\par
 \vspace{0.1em}
 {\footnotesize\color{acgray}\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv-da-cards.pdf}{Dansk} · \href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv-es-cards.pdf}{Español} · \href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv-zh-cards.pdf}{{\accjk 中文}} · \href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv-ja-cards.pdf}{{\accjk 日本語}}}\par
 \end{center}
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ Over the following decade, laptop orchestras proliferated across universities---
 
 The laptop orchestra movement peaked at approximately 500--1{,}000 participants per year, globally. For comparison, 1.2 million American children play in school bands~\citep{warschauer2004technology}. The laptop orchestra was a beautiful idea that reached almost no one.
 
-This paper argues that the limiting factor was never artistic---PLOrk settled that question in year one---but economic and infrastructural. We present \acos{}, a bare-metal operating system that transforms any surplus x86\_64 laptop into a complete musical instrument at a cost two orders of magnitude below the PLOrk model, and propose that the resulting economics make a \emph{planetary} laptop orchestra not only possible but, given the scale of available surplus hardware, almost inevitable.
+The limiting factor was never artistic---PLOrk settled that in year one. It was economic. It was infrastructural. This paper presents \acos{}, a bare-metal operating system that turns any surplus x86\_64 laptop into a complete musical instrument at a cost two orders of magnitude below PLOrk. The resulting economics make a \emph{planetary} laptop orchestra not only possible but---given the scale of available surplus hardware---almost inevitable.
 
 % ============ 2. THE LAPTOP ORCHESTRA LANDSCAPE ============
 
diff --git a/papers/arxiv-plork/plork.tex b/papers/arxiv-plork/plork.tex
index 5f0948ff9..f50d55d78 100644
--- a/papers/arxiv-plork/plork.tex
+++ b/papers/arxiv-plork/plork.tex
@@ -190,7 +190,13 @@
 
 \begin{quote}
 \small\noindent\textbf{Abstract.}
-In 2005, Dan Trueman and Perry Cook founded the Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk)---fifteen stations, each consisting of a MacBook, a custom hemispherical speaker, an 8-channel amplifier rack, and a suite of controllers, running ChucK and Max/MSP. PLOrk proved that laptop ensembles are a musically legitimate performance form, spawning over thirty university laptop orchestras worldwide. But twenty years later, every one of these ensembles remains trapped inside a university: gated by enrollment, funded by departments, housed in dedicated studios, and operated by technical staff. The laptop orchestra never left campus. We argue that the PLOrk model contains a scaling impossibility: each seat costs \$1{,}500+, requires custom speaker fabrication, depends on institutional infrastructure, and serves at most 15 people per semester. L2Ork (Virginia Tech) reduced the cost to \$750/seat with Linux netbooks and cheaper hemispherical speakers, but remained university-bound. The laptop orchestra dream---that networked computers could be a new kind of ensemble instrument---was always a dream of access. It failed at access. This paper presents a concrete alternative. \textsc{AC Native OS} is an 89\,MB operating system that boots any surplus x86\_64 laptop into a dedicated musical instrument in 7.3 seconds: built-in 32-voice polyphonic synthesizer, network-native ensemble connectivity, personalized identity, and over-the-air updates. A surplus ThinkPad costs \$50. The USB flash takes one minute. No hemispherical speakers, no amplifier racks, no Max/MSP licenses, no IT department. With 240 million PCs declared obsolete by Windows~10 end-of-life and 62 million tonnes of e-waste generated annually, the raw material for a planetary laptop orchestra already exists. The question is not whether we can afford to PLOrk the planet. It is whether we can afford not to.
+In 2005, Dan Trueman and Perry Cook built the Princeton Laptop Orchestra---fifteen MacBooks, each with a hand-built hemispherical speaker, an amplifier rack, and a stack of controllers running ChucK and Max/MSP. PLOrk proved the laptop could be a real instrument. The music was real. Thirty university ensembles followed. But twenty years later, every single one is still inside a university. Gated by enrollment, funded by departments, maintained by technical staff. The laptop orchestra never left campus.
+
+The reason is economic. Each PLOrk seat costs \$1{,}500+. The speakers are hand-fabricated. The software is licensed. The infrastructure is institutional. L2Ork at Virginia Tech cut the cost to \$750/seat with Linux and cheaper speakers---still university-bound. The dream was always about access. It failed at access.
+
+This paper presents what I think is the way out. \textsc{AC Native OS} is an 89\,MB file that boots any surplus x86\_64 laptop into a dedicated musical instrument in 7.3 seconds. Built-in synthesis, built-in networking, built-in identity, over-the-air updates. A surplus ThinkPad costs \$50. The USB flash takes one minute. No speakers to build, no software to license, no IT department to staff.
+
+240 million PCs just became obsolete because of Windows~10. 62 million tonnes of e-waste pile up every year. The raw material for a planetary laptop orchestra already exists. The question is not whether we can afford to PLOrk the planet. It is whether we can afford not to.
 \end{quote}
 \vspace{0.5em}
 }]
@@ -209,7 +215,7 @@ Over the following decade, laptop orchestras proliferated across universities---
 
 The laptop orchestra movement peaked at approximately 500--1{,}000 participants per year, globally. For comparison, 1.2 million American children play in school bands~\citep{warschauer2004technology}. The laptop orchestra was a beautiful idea that reached almost no one.
 
-This paper argues that the limiting factor was never artistic---PLOrk settled that question in year one---but economic and infrastructural. We present \acos{}, a bare-metal operating system that transforms any surplus x86\_64 laptop into a complete musical instrument at a cost two orders of magnitude below the PLOrk model, and propose that the resulting economics make a \emph{planetary} laptop orchestra not only possible but, given the scale of available surplus hardware, almost inevitable.
+The limiting factor was never artistic---PLOrk settled that in year one. It was economic. It was infrastructural. This paper presents \acos{}, a bare-metal operating system that turns any surplus x86\_64 laptop into a complete musical instrument at a cost two orders of magnitude below PLOrk. The resulting economics make a \emph{planetary} laptop orchestra not only possible but---given the scale of available surplus hardware---almost inevitable.
 
 % ============ 2. THE LAPTOP ORCHESTRA LANDSCAPE ============