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systematic-factor-ablation

Testing & Quality
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Tactic: List all factors, remove one at a time, assess conclusion stability, rank factors by load-bearing importance.

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Systematic Factor Ablation Tactic

Ablation methodology: remove factors individually and measure conclusion degradation.

Orchestration

  1. factor-enumeration lists all factors supporting the conclusion
  2. single-factor-removal removes one factor, reasons about what changes
  3. fragility-measurement scores degradation (0.0 = no effect, 1.0 = collapse)
  4. Repeat steps 2-3 for each factor within budget
  5. load-bearing-identification ranks factors by degradation score
  6. Terminate when all factors tested or budget exhausted

Scoring

  • 0.0–0.2: Decorative factor (conclusion unaffected)
  • 0.2–0.5: Supporting factor (conclusion weakened but holds)
  • 0.5–0.8: Important factor (conclusion significantly degraded)
  • 0.8–1.0: Load-bearing factor (conclusion collapses without it)

Subagents Dispatched

  • factor-enumeration (initial listing)
  • single-factor-removal (per-factor ablation)
  • fragility-measurement (degradation scoring)
  • load-bearing-identification (final ranking)

Termination Conditions

  • All factors within budget tested
  • Early termination if first load-bearing factor found and budget is S
  • Saturation: consecutive factors all score below 0.2

Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

SOPWhen to use
factor-enumerationList all key factors, conditions, and assumptions that support or enable the artifact's conclusion.
fragility-measurementCompute a fragility index from flip-point distances and degradation scores, summarizing how robust the conclusion is.
load-bearing-identificationIdentify which factors are "load-bearing walls" — factors whose removal would collapse the conclusion.
single-factor-removalRemove one specified factor from the artifact's support structure and reason about how the conclusion changes.