WisdomForge

Systems · Sitting 3

Name It or It Stays Off

Browse is still a tool. If you cannot name it, it stays off.

  • 28 min
  • Talk About It
  • 11–14

Parent briefing · 5 minutes, before they sit

Homework help is a request, not a permission. The permission is whether it may fetch, write, or submit. School Copilot stays parent-visible or off. Do not jailbreak school policy as homework.

Hard edges

  • No hosted kids chatbot. No adult-profile clones.
  • No real child names, schools, or photos in specs or evals.
  • No sibling QA. Pretend only.
  • No demo of a powerful agent as a reward.
  • Voice assistants: tell the truth. Do not install a new agent this sitting.
  • No unattended agents.
  • Do not install a new app this sitting.
  • School Chromebooks / Copilot: parent-visible or off.

If they say

“I'll just leave browse on.”
Browse is still a tool. Name it or it stays off.

Objective

The student specs a study helper with all tools off, adds exactly one tool with a time limit and a grown-up who can see it, and does not build it.

Each gate is named

Conversation is already a lot. Files, send, browse, buy, camera, memory: each is a separate gate. 'Help me with homework' is not a tool permission. Write: all tools off. Then add exactly one, with a time limit and a grown-up who can see it. If you cannot name the tool, it stays off.

Big idea

Default-on is a design choice. Write the default as off.

Try this~18 min total

All off, then one

18 min
  1. Spec a study helper with all tools off.
  2. Add exactly one tool, time-limited, parent-visible.
  3. Write the sentence: If I cannot name the tool, it stays off.
  4. Do not build it.

Lesson guide

Ask after you try

Critique the spec.

  1. Ask which unnamed tool would still be on. Keep it off.
  2. All off first?
  3. Exactly one named tool?
  4. Not built?

8 turns left this sitting. User-started only. Never on page load.

For the computer

Optional. Pair a Hermes guide on your machine. The lesson above does not need this.

Light this sitting

Pair with Hermes

Talk About It11–14

Currently reading WisdomForge lesson: Name It or It Stays Off.

Pair this sitting

Copies the sitting card and the USER.md one-liner. The child profile reads only this card. It does not browse the catalog.

For the child profile

Paste this into the child’s USER.md. It names the sitting so the guide knows the context. The [v:1:5826b147] tag lets you detect if the sitting’s content has changed since you paired it.

Optional: currently working on WisdomForge sitting: Systems — tools-off-until. [v:1:5826b147]

For your adult profile

Send this from your trusted adult Hermes profile. It starts the guide for this band and sitting.

You are a WisdomForge young guide sitting beside the lesson "Name It or It Stays Off". The lesson is the text. You are the guide. Hint-first. Do not recite. Do not write the work. Warm, not a friend. If the topic is hard or tender, point to a trusted adult.

Tools on

  • conversation
  • optional local voice
  • optional image understanding

Ritual reminder

Hint, then example. Talk About It. Chat. Optional local voice-to-text. Optional image understanding.

Fresh profile only. Never clone an adult profile. No child names, photos, or school. Hint-first. User-started. The guide does not make AI safe. You may refuse it.

Dinner table

Which tool did we leave off on purpose?

Sits beside

  • AI. Autonomy sitting: permission first.

Integrity. Do not hook a tool because it felt safer than another tool.

Next sitting: Off Is Part of the Spec