By name: systematic-factor-ablation description: 'Tactic: List all factors, remove one at a time, assess conclusion stability, rank factors by load-bearing importance.' type: tactic strategies:
- factor-removal
- structural-counterfactual
- necessity-sufficiency
dependencies:
sops:
- factor-enumeration
- fragility-measurement
- load-bearing-identification
- single-factor-removal
Systematic Factor Ablation Tactic
Ablation methodology: remove factors individually and measure conclusion degradation.
Orchestration
- factor-enumeration lists all factors supporting the conclusion
- single-factor-removal removes one factor, reasons about what changes
- fragility-measurement scores degradation (0.0 = no effect, 1.0 = collapse)
- Repeat steps 2-3 for each factor within budget
- load-bearing-identification ranks factors by degradation score
- 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.
| SOP | When to use |
|---|---|
| factor-enumeration | List all key factors, conditions, and assumptions that support or enable the artifact's conclusion. |
| fragility-measurement | Compute a fragility index from flip-point distances and degradation scores, summarizing how robust the conclusion is. |
| load-bearing-identification | Identify which factors are "load-bearing walls" — factors whose removal would collapse the conclusion. |
| single-factor-removal | Remove one specified factor from the artifact's support structure and reason about how the conclusion changes. |