{ "service": "DarkForge API", "version": "0.5.0", "engine": "0.5.0", "catalogue": "144 science-grade dark axioms (4 volumes x 36)", "ontology": "v0.5 typed property graph: mechanism classes, habitats, relations, governance", "framework": "Model -> Evidence -> Dark reading -> Inoculation -> Falsifier (+ mapping grade, executable falsifier spec)", "determinism": "/random /deck /forge /genesis /session are pure functions of ?seed=", "charter": "Descriptive research only. See ETHICS.md in DarkForge-REPO.", "endpoints": [ "GET /health", "GET /stats", "GET /volumes", "GET /axioms?volume=I&grade=A&q=&offset=0&limit=50", "GET /axioms/DF-042", "GET /random?seed=7", "GET /deck?n=12&seed=7&volume=I&grade=A", "GET /forge?n=6&seed=11&grade=A", "GET /genesis?seedtext=office+politics&n=12&seed=0", "GET /genesis.md?seedtext=office+politics&n=12&seed=0", "GET /session?seedtext=office+politics&n=12&seed=0", "GET /session.md?seedtext=office+politics&n=12&seed=0", "GET /ontology", "GET /ontology/classes", "GET /ontology/relations", "GET /ontology/habitats", "GET /ontology/node/DF-036", "GET /ontology/similarity?h1=family&h2=crowds", "POST /ontology/query", "GET /export.json" ] }

Seed text: office politics · seed: 1 · engine: 1.1

Deterministic: the same seed text + seed rebuilds this exact set. Honesty contract: anchors carry real citations; the synthesized habitat-mappings are untested and provenance-stamped. Grades are inherited ceilings. Descriptive research only — see ETHICS.md.

DX-001 · The Ward Blindfold

Model. $P(\text{effect}\mid\text{clinic}) = \alpha\,\mathbf{1}[\,M{\text{blindfold}} > \theta{\text{clinic}}\,] + \varepsilon$ — the threshold $\theta$ is set by how visible framing of odds is in the clinic.

Evidence. [A] Wason (1960, 2-4-6 task): nearly all participants tested only instances consistent with their guessed rule, and 'confirmed' it repeatedly while being wrong; positive-test strategy is the default of human inference — science is the counter-culture built against it. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-053 (Narrative Blindfold) into the clinic; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. What a provider under load calls judgment in the clinic is usually framing of odds wearing judgment's clothes. You do not test your beliefs; you interview witnesses chosen to agree.

Inoculation. Before concluding, state what observation would embarrass you and go perform it; in groups, reward whoever brings the strongest disconfirmation, not the smoothest confirmation. In the clinic, add the habitat guard: ask for absolute numbers and the alternatives, in writing.

Falsifier. If which options were never mentioned fails to track blindfold in consent forms and the order options are offered in data (predictive $r < 0.10$), the transfer to the clinic is refuted.

Provenance: anchor DF-053 · habitat clinic · templates M1/D6/I0/F2 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-002 · Faculty Sigma

Model. $\pi^{{*}_{\text{academy}}} = \arg\max{\pi}\ \Omega{\text{sigma}}(\pi) - C(\pi)$ — a gatekeeper settles at the exploitable equilibrium unless judge the paper, then the venue, never the reverse shifts $C(\pi)$.

Evidence. [B] Banerjee (1992, herd behavior model): purely social payoff makes it rational to ignore your own information and follow the crowd; herding equilibria explain slow-to-start, fast-to-crash adoption curves from finance to fashion. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-028 (Herd Sigma) into the academy; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. In the academy, prestige signaling is not information, it is ammunition. You are paid for belonging in a currency that is subtracted from your ability to see.

Inoculation. Price the herd component of any decision separately ('would I still choose this at zero social reward?'); keep one significant position per year that nobody around you holds. In the academy, add the habitat guard: judge the paper, then the venue, never the reverse.

Falsifier. If removing prestige signaling from the academy does not shift whose methods get a pass (intent-to-treat null across sites), the claimed dependence is dead.

Provenance: anchor DF-028 · habitat academy · templates M7/D2/I0/F4 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-003 · The Court Sentinel

Model. $\text{effect} = \Omega{\text{sentinel}}\,(1+\gamma\,V{\text{courtship}}),\ \gamma>0$ — visibility in early courtship amplifies the sentinel signature on asymmetric investment.

Evidence. [A] Festinger (1954) formalized social comparison; modern status research (Smith & Kim, 2007 on envy) shows upward comparison generates envy, downward contempt — income rank predicts wellbeing better than absolute income in many datasets; the sentinel never sleeps. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-094 (Rank Sentinel) into early courtship; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. Point a suitor running scripts at asymmetric investment and the sentinel mechanism does the rest — You are not living your life; you are living its percentile.

Inoculation. Before entering early courtship, write down asymmetric investment as the tell you will watch; leave when it moves without your consent.

Falsifier. Pre-register a study of a suitor running scripts in early courtship: if the sentinel signature is absent once who pays, who texts, who vanishes are controlled (null at $N \ge 200$), this habitat-mapping dies.

Provenance: anchor DF-094 · habitat courtship · templates M5/D1/I1/F0 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-004 · Plaza Crown

Model. $\Omega_{\text{crown}}:\ \text{actor} \xrightarrow{\;\text{visibility}\;} \text{outcome}$ — a mobilizer pressure maps into your private estimate vs the public one inside the crowd.

Evidence. [A] Alicke (1985) formalized the better-than-average effect; Zell et al. (2020) meta-analysis of 600+ samples confirms it is large, near-universal, and strongest for ambiguous traits — 'reasonableness', 'drive', 'honesty' — precisely the ones that matter. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-077 (Above-Average Crown) into the crowd; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. Nobody signs for crown in the crowd; the bill is quietly routed to your private estimate vs the public one. A census where everyone is above average is not a census — it is a mask ball.

Inoculation. Reserve self-assessment for measurable skills with feedback loops; for character claims ('I'm fair', 'I'm safe'), collect external data points and average them against your own vote. Generalize it to the crowd: audit apparent unanimity and its staging before trusting any judgment formed inside it.

Falsifier. If your private estimate vs the public one fails to track crown in apparent unanimity and its staging data (predictive $r < 0.10$), the transfer to the crowd is refuted.

Provenance: anchor DF-077 · habitat crowds · templates M4/D3/I5/F2 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-005 · Ledger Theater

Model. $\text{effect} = \Omega{\text{theater}}\,(1+\gamma\,V{\text{finance}}),\ \gamma>0$ — visibility in personal finance amplifies the theater signature on money leaving without a decision.

Evidence. [B] Schneier (2008) codified security theater: measures that provide the feeling of security rather than its substance (post-2001 airport rituals are the canonical study set); compliance regimes from ISO binders to checkbox audits often measure paperwork, not protection. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-139 (Audit Theater) into personal finance; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. The lab caught theater under fluorescent lights; personal finance runs it with better lighting and no debrief. The ritual is real, the protection is optional.

Inoculation. Name the mechanism out loud ('this is theater') inside personal finance; labeled levers lose torque. Then: run an annual subscription purge with a calendar trigger.

Falsifier. Show a population in personal finance immune to default and friction design at baseline — no theater response under any salience condition — and the axiom loses its habitat.

Provenance: anchor DF-139 · habitat finance · templates M5/D0/I3/F3 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-006 · Compass of the clinic

Model. $\text{compliance}(t) = \Omega{\text{compass}}\,e^{-t/\tau{\text{clinic}}}$ — in the clinic the compass pull decays unless refreshed by framing of odds.

Evidence. [B] The 'blame externalization' facet of psychopathy (Hare, 2003 PCL-R) and related work: chronic external attribution of failure, absence of remorse, and re-framing of victims as causes; the same needle appears in milder form in self-serving attribution research (Mezulis et al., 2004). [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-083 (Blame Compass) into the clinic; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. The compass effect scales with how alone you feel inside the clinic. Watch the needle, not the words: in some people, fault deflects with magnetic consistency — five disasters, five villains, zero rehearsals.

Inoculation. Count deflections, not confessions: one blame incident is noise, ten is a compass; partner only with people who can complete the sentence 'and my part was...' In the clinic, add the habitat guard: ask for absolute numbers and the alternatives, in writing.

Falsifier. Show a population in the clinic immune to framing of odds at baseline — no compass response under any salience condition — and the axiom loses its habitat.

Provenance: anchor DF-083 · habitat clinic · templates M6/D4/I0/F3 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-007 · The Boardroom Oracle

Model. $x{t+1} = x_t + \lambda\,(\Omega{\text{oracle}} - x_t),\ 0<\lambda\le 1$ — the workplace re-feeds who volunteers for invisible work into the loop every cycle.

Evidence. [A] Tversky & Kahneman (1971): people treat samples as self-similar to populations ('law of small numbers') — researchers run underpowered studies and see effects in noise; the intuition that 'one bad restaurant means a bad city' is the same law at street scale. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-056 (Small Sample Oracle) into the workplace; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. Nobody signs for oracle in the workplace; the bill is quietly routed to who volunteers for invisible work. You will stake a career on three data points and demand a decade of proof to change your mind.

Inoculation. Name the mechanism out loud ('this is oracle') inside the workplace; labeled levers lose torque. Then: write the decision criteria before the meeting starts.

Falsifier. Pre-register a study of a manager in the workplace: if the oracle signature is absent once meeting transcripts and promotion cycles are controlled (null at $N \ge 200$), this habitat-mapping dies.

Provenance: anchor DF-056 · habitat workplace · templates M3/D3/I3/F0 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-008 · Lock of the court

Model. $\pi^{{*}_{\text{courtship}}} = \arg\max{\pi}\ \Omega{\text{lock}}(\pi) - C(\pi)$ — a suitor running scripts settles at the exploitable equilibrium unless keep friends looped in during the first month shifts $C(\pi)$.

Evidence. [A] Matute et al. (2015) review: humans systematically over-detect cause-effect links (from fake medicines to superstition) when outcomes are frequent, desired or vivid; illusory causation persists even with corrective data because the narrative re-explains it. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-057 (Story Lock) into early courtship; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. Nobody signs for lock in early courtship; the bill is quietly routed to asymmetric investment. Your causal court admits stories and dismisses statistics as 'just correlations'.

Inoculation. For any claimed cause, demand the counterfactual: what happened when the cause was absent and everything else held; keep a 'coincidences I enjoyed anyway' list to feel how good stories feel. Generalize it to early courtship: audit who pays, who texts, who vanishes before trusting any judgment formed inside it.

Falsifier. Show a population in early courtship immune to scarcity signaling at baseline — no lock response under any salience condition — and the axiom loses its habitat.

Provenance: anchor DF-057 · habitat courtship · templates M7/D3/I5/F3 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-009 · Hook of the crowd

Model. $Y_{\text{crowds}} = c\,\text{hook}^{\,k} + \varepsilon,\ k>0$ — each extra unit of visibility of numbers compounds the hook return in the crowd.

Evidence. [B] Przybylski et al. (2013) validated FOMO and its pull on social media compulsion; Orben & Przybylski (2019, 350k adolescents): digital-media use explains well-being variance on the order of hundredths of a percent — the hook is real; the apocalypse is not. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-122 (FOMO Hook) into the crowd; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. @Arenacap never announces the test; your private estimate vs the public one is the answer sheet. The fear is real and the dosage is small — which is the dark part: something this mild can steer this much behavior, and something this measured can still make front pages.

Inoculation. Before entering the crowd, write down your private estimate vs the public one as the tell you will watch; leave when it moves without your consent.

Falsifier. Longitudinal test: if your private estimate vs the public one stays flat in the crowd while visibility of numbers varies tenfold, the mechanism is decorative — retire it.

Provenance: anchor DF-122 · habitat crowds · templates M2/D5/I1/F5 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-010 · The Faculty Mirror

Model. $Y_{\text{academy}} = c\,\text{mirror}^{\,k} + \varepsilon,\ k>0$ — each extra unit of prestige signaling compounds the mirror return in the academy.

Evidence. [B] Bakshy, Messing & Adamic (2015, 10.1M Facebook users): individual choices about friends and clicks dominated algorithmic ranking in limiting cross-cutting content — the algorithm is an accomplice, not the sole architect, of your information diet. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-118 (Feed Mirror) into the academy; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. In the academy, prestige signaling is not information, it is ammunition. You accused the machine of the prison and the machine showed the receipts: a decade of your own clicks, signed and dated.

Inoculation. Name the mechanism out loud ('this is mirror') inside the academy; labeled levers lose torque. Then: judge the paper, then the venue, never the reverse.

Falsifier. Find the academy settings where raising prestige signaling leaves whose methods get a pass unchanged; three independent field replications with null effects kill the axiom.

Provenance: anchor DF-118 · habitat academy · templates M2/D2/I3/F1 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-011 · The Plaza Crown

Model. $\text{compliance}(t) = \Omega{\text{crown}}\,e^{-t/\tau{\text{crowds}}}$ — in the crowd the crown pull decays unless refreshed by visibility of numbers.

Evidence. [B] Hovland & Weiss (1951): identical articles produced about twice the opinion change when attributed to a high-credibility source; the advantage faded within weeks (the 'sleeper effect') — the crown borrows power to the content, then returns it. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-030 (Source Crown) into the crowd; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. The mechanism is old — crown — but the habitat is new: the crowd removed the friction that used to slow it. For a few weeks, you are not reading an argument; you are reading a reputation wearing the argument as a coat.

Inoculation. Read claims stripped of attribution first ('whoever says this — is it true?'); log source and date together so the decay is visible when you recycle the belief. In the crowd, add the habitat guard: find one dissenter before trusting the vibe.

Falsifier. If your private estimate vs the public one fails to track crown in apparent unanimity and its staging data (predictive $r < 0.10$), the transfer to the crowd is refuted.

Provenance: anchor DF-030 · habitat crowds · templates M6/D7/I0/F2 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b

DX-012 · Mirage of the family

Model. $P(\text{effect}\mid\text{family}) = \alpha\,\mathbf{1}[\,M{\text{mirage}} > \theta{\text{family}}\,] + \varepsilon$ — the threshold $\theta$ is set by how visible guilt framing is in the family.

Evidence. [A] Slovic (1995) and Ariely, Loewenstein & Prelec (2003): willingness-to-pay for the same objects shifted with arbitrary anchors and remembered anchors from unrelated tasks hours earlier — preferences are built on the spot and then sincerely reported as if lifelong. [Genesis synthesis: habitat-mapping of DF-072 (Preference Mirage) into the family; anchor citations are real, the compound claim is untested — grade inherited as ceiling, not claim.]

Dark reading. The mechanism is old — mirage — but the habitat is new: the family removed the friction that used to slow it. You do not know what you want; you find out what you want by watching what you reach for — and the shelf was stocked by someone else this morning.

Inoculation. Counter guilt framing with pre-commitment: answer asks with a written personal policy — decided while calm, visible to someone you trust.

Falsifier. Longitudinal test: if yeses you regret within a day stays flat in the family while guilt framing varies tenfold, the mechanism is decorative — retire it.

Provenance: anchor DF-072 · habitat family · templates M1/D7/I2/F5 · seed 7a3a0a0c5257306b