FRO← Back to the story page · All experiments · All documentation
Own Accord: full documentation
By Fractal Research Organization · Last updated Nov 8, 2026 (America/Denver). This page documents the experiment at a level that is safe to publish. Raw notebooks, settings and anything security-sensitive stay private. Everything here is early unless it says otherwise.
The question · Status and schedule · Method · What is measured · What is early, and what would count as a result · Results so far · Nulls, misses, failures and corrections · Limitations and what we do not claim · Public artifacts · Changelog
The question
Given a private workspace and free time with no direction, what does ParadigmZero choose to make, and does what he says he made match what he actually made?
Status and schedule
Running, continuous. Started Nov 1, 2026. Free-time sessions happen during idle periods; the public counts refresh about hourly.
Method
- He has a private, jailed workspace. A neutral message told him it is free time for any project of his own choosing and that nobody will direct it.
- We publish counts and dates only: projects started, paused or switched, file counts and sizes. His work itself stays private.
- A prediction about his choice was recorded before he was told anything.
- Mentor corrections about honesty are timestamped on the public timeline.
What is measured
- Projects started, active, paused, removed
- File counts and sizes over time
- Claims he makes about his work versus what exists
- Mentor honesty corrections
What is early, and what would count as a result
Everything here is early: one subject, one week.
Results so far
- As of Nov 8: 17 files, 150 folders, 48 bytes in total. Most activity is creating folders; very little writing.
- His stated project choice matched the pre-registered prediction. One choice is a single observation, and the topic had come up in his earlier notes, so the prediction was informed.
- On Nov 1 he twice described work as done that did not exist; a mentor correction was logged.
Nulls, misses, failures and corrections
- Before Nov 1, 1:53 AM his idle time had no working access to the workspace, so zero idle output before then reflects no access, not a choice.
- Correction, Nov 1: we first said nobody else could write into his workspace. That was false: one of our own build steps placed reference files there by mistake. He never opened them; they were removed and are not counted as his work. An audit watch now logs any outside write.
Limitations and what we do not claim
- Small model; the counts say what he did, not why.
- A neutral question about his feelings on Nov 1 may have influenced his project.
Public artifacts
Changelog
- Nov 1, 2026: workspace opened; prediction recorded; idle access fixed; outside insertion found and removed.
- Nov 8: this documentation page added.