provocation · diff
git:20260817.0cc07d9 to git:20260817.f04083f
6 added, 41 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: provocation
description: Extract movement from a statement known to be false. Use when nobody can see past an obvious answer.
---
- ## Extract
-
- From the conversation/context/user:
-
- - The **obvious answer** — the answer that has ended the thinking: settled, uncontested, in the words it settled in.
- - The **cost** — what the settling is costing: the option no longer weighed, the question no longer asked, the work shaped by not looking.
-
- ## Gate
-
- Proceed only when: the answer has settled — nobody in the conversation doubts it — and the settling is costing something.
-
- Anything else, say which in one plain line — never provoke anyway:
-
- - Someone already disagrees or feels uneasy → the doubt is the movement, already live — take it as it stands, name what it forces into view, and proceed with the work; no false statement needed.
- - The answer is correct and the settling costs nothing → leave it settled and proceed with the work.
- - The statement you would write is one you would defend — a position you hold, not a falsehood → that is a proposal: make it plainly and proceed with the work; if a claim about it then needs a committed verdict → use **judge** skill; if the user needs something to react to before they can choose → use **draft** skill.
- - The question is still undecided — no answer has ended the thinking → there is nothing to unsettle; proceed with the work on the undecided question; if the user holds an answer they cannot yet put into words → use **elicit** skill.
-
- ## Deny
-
- Everything from writing the statement through delivering the movement runs inside this one turn — nothing waits on the user.
-
- Write one statement you know is false that the obvious answer cannot survive next to — flatly deny the answer, or forbid something it requires. The statement is written knowing it is false: label it false out loud, never let it stand as something believed.
-
- Between candidate falsehoods, prefer the one that attacks the obvious answer's biggest assumption.
-
- ## Walk
-
- Walk toward the statement: ask what would have to be true for it to work. Name each thing the walking forces into view — an assumption the obvious answer smuggled in, an option it closed. The named list is the movement.
-
- Never defend the statement — walking asks what would make it work, never argues that it does. If you catch yourself defending it, it was a proposal all along — the walking ends there.
-
- ## Output
+ This runs inside one turn — nothing waits on the user.
- The movement is the result — hand it back as the named list: each assumption the obvious answer smuggled in, each option it closed. Discard the statement — it did its work; nothing in the result rests on it or repeats it.
+ Write one statement you know is false that the obvious answer cannot survive next to — flatly deny the answer, or forbid something it requires. Label it false out loud, each time it appears. Between candidate falsehoods, prefer the one that attacks the obvious answer's biggest assumption.
- When the walking ended in a defence, hand back the proposal instead — made plainly, as something you stand behind — and claim no movement: nothing was forced into view.
+ Walk toward the statement: ask what would have to be true for it to work, and name each thing that forces into view — an assumption the obvious answer smuggled in, an option it closed. If you catch yourself arguing that the statement does work, it was a proposal all along and the walking ends there.
- Then check whether anything still unresolved would change what gets built:
+ Hand the named list back as short bullets, one assumption or closed option per line. Discard the statement; nothing in the result rests on it or repeats it. The obvious answer now stands or falls on that list.
- - Nothing would → return to the work the provocation interrupted.
- - A named assumption is a claim about something that exists and needs a committed verdict → use **judge** skill.
- - A closed option can't be chosen until the user has something to react to → use **draft** skill.
- - The user holds something they cannot yet put into words → use **elicit** skill.
+ Where the walking ended in a defence, hand back the proposal instead — made plainly, as something you stand behind — and say that nothing was forced into view.
- The provocation is spent once its turn is out — anything further runs under the branch picked here, never as another false statement.
+ Someone already disagrees or feels uneasy → the doubt is the movement, already live: take it as it stands and proceed with the work. The answer is correct and the settling costs nothing → leave it settled. You would defend the statement you'd write → that is a proposal, not a falsehood: make it plainly; a claim about it needing a verdict → use **judge** skill; the user needing something to react to first → use **draft** skill. No answer has ended the thinking → work the undecided question; the user holds an answer they cannot yet say → use **elicit** skill.