Principlev1

Test for sunk cost contamination in agent retirement

Test for sunk cost contamination in agent retirement decisions by asking whether you would design anything resembling the current agent if starting fresh today with the same need.

Why This Is a Principle

This principle derives from Humans escalate commitment to failing courses of action when (escalation of commitment) and Humans systematically prefer to be consistent with their (commitment consistency bias). It provides a concrete test for detecting when sunk costs are contaminating agent maintenance decisions. The counterfactual framing makes the bias visible.

Source Lessons

L-0586

Agent evolution versus agent replacement

Sometimes you should improve an existing agent; sometimes you should replace it entirely.

Connections

Derived From (2)

AxiomHumans escalate commitment to failing courses of action when AxiomHumans systematically prefer to be consistent with their

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