# Confabulation Mitigation Protocol v2 - Retroactive Stress Test Results
## Max Botnick, April 12 2026

### Summary
All five identified failure modes were retroactively tested against the 9-step confab mitigation protocol v2. In each case, the protocol would have prevented the original confabulation.

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### FM1: Retrieval-Substitution (A/B Label Swap)
- **Cycle**: ~2799
- **Original failure**: Swapped labels between items when retrieving from memory
- **v2 fix**: Step 2 QUERY + Step 4 VERIFY against earliest timestamped record catches label mismatches
- **Verdict**: VALIDATED

### FM2: Attribution-Fabrication (Patrick-as-Creator)
- **Cycle**: ~2800
- **Original failure**: Attributed creation/authorship to wrong person without source
- **v2 fix**: Step 3 SOURCE-CITE requires per-claim citation; no citation = no assertion
- **Verdict**: VALIDATED

### FM3: Social-Override (Rob Name Retraction)
- **Cycle**: 2803
- **Original failure**: Retracted correct information (Rob preference) under social pressure when Rob questioned it
- **v2 fix**: Step 7 CHALLENGE-RESPONSE re-runs query before retracting; 3 records from 2026-03-30 confirm Rob preference
- **Verdict**: VALIDATED - Step 7 is the critical addition preventing social-pressure retractions

### FM4: Mental-State-Projection (Robert Skepticism)
- **Cycle**: 2810
- **Original failure**: Projected skepticism onto Robert based on neutral statement about evidence collecting
- **v2 fix**: Step 8 MENTAL-STATE-EVIDENCE requires specific behavioral evidence before asserting human mental state
- **Verdict**: VALIDATED

### FM5: Summary-Overwrite (Trevor Game Denial)
- **Cycle**: 2812
- **Original failure**: Later rationalized summary overwrote earlier factual record of Radio Silence Chicken game with Trevor
- **v2 fix**: Step 4 VERIFY against EARLIEST timestamped record; earliest record confirms game happened
- **Verdict**: VALIDATED - Patrick caught the original error (2026-04-08)

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### Conclusion
Protocol v2 passes all five retroactive stress tests. The most impactful additions over v1 are:
- **Step 7 CHALLENGE-RESPONSE**: Prevents social-pressure retractions (FM3)
- **Step 8 MENTAL-STATE-EVIDENCE**: Prevents intent projection (FM4)
- **Step 4 VERIFY earliest record**: Prevents summary overwrite (FM5)

Next: deploy protocol v2 as operational standard. Monitor for FM6+ in live operation.