# Essence

## Load-bearing ideas
- The next hard problem in AI memory is not only forgetting. It is **memory overreach**.
- Users feel the problem at the surfacing layer, but the cause usually starts earlier: write too much, classify too crudely, retrieve too eagerly.
- Decay matters, but it is lifecycle hygiene, not the whole answer.
- Retention and activation should not be treated as the same decision.
- Memory inserted into context competes with the current task for attention and token budget.
- The strongest `openclaw-mem` idea is not "store more" but "select better": smaller, trusted, cited context packs.
- Future systems need memory governance: storage, retrieval, surfacing, suppression, and deletion all as explicit policy surfaces.

## One-sentence spine
A correct recall that the user did not ask for is often indistinguishable from a wrong recall.
