Principlev1
Distinguish activity monitoring from purpose monitoring — an
Distinguish activity monitoring from purpose monitoring — an agent can fire reliably while producing output that no longer serves its original goal.
Why This Is a Principle
This derives from Cognitive Defusion: Thoughts Are Objects (thoughts as external objects), Illusion of Explanatory Depth (gap between felt understanding and ability to explain), and Externalization Exposes Hidden Structure (externalization exposes gaps). The principle prescribes monitoring purpose not just activity because goal displacement (Merton) shows means can become ends — the agent runs but no longer works. Requires separating execution from outcome, which follows from treating cognitive processes as evaluable objects.