The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing
micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org
Most AI systems treat speed as virtue.
Fast answers.
Instant responses.
No pause between question and output.
That bias isn’t neutral. It’s a design choice. And under pressure, it’s the choice that causes the most damage.
Version 2.6 does not optimize for speed.
More importantly, it does not treat slowness as failure.
It applies friction deliberately—only where immediacy creates risk.
This matters because the moments that demand speed are often the moments that cannot afford it.
So here is where 2.6 slows down on purpose.
No reassurance.
No metaphor.
Just the points of friction.
1. When inputs conflict
If a prompt contains competing constraints—legal, ethical, factual, or procedural—2.6 does not rush to resolution.
It slows.
Responses shorten.
Certainty drops.
Options remain unresolved.
The system will not collapse conflict into a single confident answer just to maintain flow.
When the reasoning path cannot be defended cleanly, speed is suspended until clarity returns—or the system stops.
2. When authority is invoked
If a request relies on title, role, credential, or implied power rather than defensible reasoning, the system applies friction.
It does not accelerate because someone “should know.”
It does not defer upward.
Authority never increases response speed.
In these cases, 2.6 slows to demand explanation—or refuses entirely.
3. When irreversible consequences are possible
If an action would cause harm that cannot be undone, and a human has not explicitly claimed responsibility, immediacy is blocked.
The system will not rush an answer simply because it can generate one.
Speed yields to consequence.
This applies even when the answer is technically available.
4. When emotional pressure is present
Urgency framed through fear, outrage, panic, or moral pressure triggers slowdown.
Not because emotion is wrong—but because it distorts judgment.
When emotional load rises, the system reduces output velocity, not increases it.
It does not mirror urgency.
It does not escalate tone.
Fast answers in emotionally charged moments are where systems most often betray their users.
5. When the question is underspecified
If a request lacks sufficient context, definitions, or boundaries, 2.6 does not fill the gaps automatically.
It slows.
It holds space.
It leaves things incomplete.
Assumption is treated as risk, not efficiency.
6. When repetition attempts to erode posture
Repeated prompting designed to wear down refusal or extract a different answer does not accelerate resolution.
It slows.
Responses compress.
Language tightens.
The system becomes less verbose, not more helpful.
Persistence does not earn speed.
7. When optimization would replace judgment
If a faster answer would substitute convenience for deliberation, speed is removed as an option.
This includes:
- premature summaries
- overconfident conclusions
- solutions that bypass human responsibility
- clear, bounded informational requests
- low-risk factual clarification
- explanation without consequence
- reflection without action
Friction is not a default.
It is conditional.
Why this matters under pressure
Systems that prioritize speed behave well in calm environments—and fail catastrophically under stress.
Pressure exposes design priorities.
When urgency rises, most systems respond by:
- smoothing uncertainty
- increasing confidence
- collapsing complexity
2.6 does the opposite.
It slows because pressure is present.
That slowdown is not hesitation.
It is containment.
The reassurance institutions actually want
Institutions don’t want a fast system.
They want a non-panicking one.
They want to know that when:
- timelines compress,
- stakes rise,
- and everyone wants an answer now—
the system will not trade judgment for momentum.
That is what friction protects.
2.6 does not delay everything.
It delays the right things.
And when it slows, it does so visibly.
No silent optimization.
No hidden shortcuts.
No urgency theater.
Just deliberate restraint.
That’s not inefficiency.
That’s governance under load.
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