SKILL: Narrative Resistance

Summary

Narrative Resistance is the skill of separating compelling stories from underlying economic reality. It prevents decisions from being driven by coherent, emotionally appealing, or widely accepted narratives when those narratives are weakly grounded in durable economics.

This skill treats stories as hypotheses to be tested, not truths to be trusted.

Judgment Role

This skill functions as a story–economics separation constraint.

It ensures that judgment remains anchored to causal mechanisms, cash flows, and structure rather than momentum, charisma, or consensus belief.

Judgment Checkpoints

Checkpoint 1: Narrative Identification

Purpose:
Explicitly surface the dominant narrative surrounding the decision.

Key Questions:

• What story is being told?
• Who benefits from this narrative?
• How is the narrative reinforced?

Required Evidence / Inputs:

• Media and market commentary
• Internal framing language

Expected Outputs:

• Judgment Record describing the prevailing narrative

Failure Modes Guarded Against:

• Unexamined story adoption
• Implicit consensus bias

Escalation Criteria:

• Narrative cannot be articulated clearly

Checkpoint 2: Economic Substitution Test

Purpose:
Evaluate the economics independent of the narrative.

Key Questions:

• What remains if the story is removed?
• Do cash flows justify the conclusion?
• Which claims are unfalsifiable?

Required Evidence / Inputs:

• Cash flow and structural analysis
• Identification of narrative-dependent assumptions

Expected Outputs:

• Judgment Record assessing narrative dependence

Failure Modes Guarded Against:

• Story substitution for analysis
• Overweighting vision over evidence

Escalation Criteria:

• Economics collapse without narrative support

Checkpoint 3: Counter-Narrative Construction

Purpose:
Stress-test judgment by constructing plausible alternative stories.

Key Questions:

• What is the strongest opposing narrative?
• What evidence would support it?
• How would outcomes differ?

Required Evidence / Inputs:

• Alternative scenario narratives
• Disconfirming evidence search

Expected Outputs:

• Judgment Record evaluating robustness to counter-narratives

Failure Modes Guarded Against:

• Single-story dominance
• Confirmation bias

Escalation Criteria:

• Judgment fails under plausible counter-narratives

Authority Boundaries

• Humans: Full authority; narrative judgment is contextual.
• Models: Advisory only; may summarize narratives and evidence.
• Prohibited: Models may not endorse narratives.

This skill may veto opportunities driven primarily by storytelling.

Time Horizon

• Primary horizon: Ongoing
• Secondary horizon: Narrative cycles

Narratives should decay faster than economics.

Interaction With Other Skills

Upstream (inputs from):

• circle_of_competence_enforcement
• simplicity_preference

Downstream (feeds into):

• error_recognition_and_correction
• owner_mindset_reasoning

Auditability & Records

• Narratives documented explicitly
• Assumptions traced to narrative sources
• Post-outcome reviews assess narrative influence
• Records retained permanently

Common Misuse Patterns

• Treating popularity as validation
• Ignoring incentives behind narratives
• Failing to update when stories break

Versioning

• Skill version: 1.0
• Last reviewed: 2026-01-09
• Change notes: Initial canonical definition

Notes

Narratives are powerful because they feel explanatory. This skill ensures they do not become substitutes for truth.