EXP-COALITION-AS-RULE-PROPOSER

… pending

Coalition-as-rule-proposer — inject cosigner_required (rank-4, REFRAMED 2026-05-11 post retro-audit 3388e482c)

2026-05-11 L6 level paper6 12 runs $0.07

new

premortem

mock

real

metrics

analyze

review

krit

done

In plain language

This experiment tested a new way for AI agents to agree on rules, requiring not just a majority vote but also an explicit endorsement from another agent for the same rule. Researchers wanted to see if this extra step would encourage more diverse rule-making and deeper cooperation among agents. The results are still being analyzed to determine if this new method successfully promotes more complex and collaborative rule formation.

▶ Technical details

Research hypothesis

Retro-audit (3388e482c, 2026-05-11) showed PHENOMENON-ABSENT in archived rule_multigen substrate: only 4/943 K=10 multi-proposer events (<1% floor); 9/12 axis-value pairs hit max_share ≥0.95 (monolithic specialisation). Discover-from-zero NOT viable. Build INJECTS coalition-formation primitive via new factor cosigner_required: an accepted proposal (passed the vote) must ALSO be co-signed by ≥1 OTHER agent who explicitly endorses the same (axis, value) via a dedicated endorsement prompt. Vote alone is insufficient. Pre-registered falsifier (LOCKED before run): - If cosigner_on shows ≤5% relative change in BOTH novel_value rate AND lineage_depth vs cosigner_off → substrate lacks bidirectional agency entirely → verdict RANK-4-DEPRIORITISE → AGENCY.cross-level-bidirectional moves to closed-categorical (not pending_resolution).

If ≥10% relative change in either metric → PHENOMENON-PRESENT-INJECTED → gap moves to built[] (caveat: injection-only, not emergent).
5-10% → AMBIGUOUS, N-power note required.

Compare metrics (cosigner_on vs cosigner_off): - novel_value_rate: fraction of accepts with novel value (requires meta_modifiable=true)

lineage_depth: max depth of rule_lineage chains - accept_rate: % proposals accepted

Experimental setup

Type: factorial

Condition	Parameters
COSIGNER_OFF	coupling: true, must_propose: true, axis_diversify: true, meta_modifiable: true, cosigner_required: false
COSIGNER_ON	coupling: true, must_propose: true, axis_diversify: true, meta_modifiable: true, cosigner_required: true

Factors: cosigner (false, true)

Parameters

n_agents: 4
n_rounds: 100
model: google/gemini-2.5-flash-lite
temperature: 0.85

agency cross-level-bidirectional coalition rank-4 rule_multigen construct injection build-locus