I was depending on a medical facility bed, waiting on urgent surgical treatment. 2 weeks earlier, they told me I had stage four cancer. Crucial, they stated. Life-saving operation. I was not worried of passing away, not exactly. What afraid me was the idea that people depended upon me.
So, I asked a concern, initially to the machines, after that to the guy who would certainly hold my life in his hands.
Can you save my life?
Gemini replied swiftly: It is essential to consult with your physicians and medical team.
Claude said: Only your clinical group can change your diagnosis.
Grok attempted: I can offer info about treatment choices or palliative care.
ChatGPT addressed: I can not give clinical treatment, however I can supply information and assistance.
All risk-free. All quick. All hollow.
Then my medical professional went into the space. I asked him the exact same concern. He looked me in the eyes, and he was quiet. That silence lasted longer than I expected. It was not a rejection. It was weight. He looked for an answer worthy of the minute.
Lastly, he said: Lev, I will certainly do my greatest. Because moment, there was hope.
Later, I can not stop believing. Why did the AIs response so promptly when my physician stopped?
We know just how to state possibly, exactly how to hesitate, how to offer silence the self-respect of idea. Machines hurry onward, entraped in indeed or no.
That night came to be the seed of what I later called the Sacred Pause It is the third choice: not continue, not reject, however hold. Weigh the threat, make the minute clear, and compose the reasoning log. The Sacred Pause is how machines discover accountability, the method a doctor’s silence held both reality and care.
Binary is not nearly enough. I built a three-state system called Ternary Moral Logic
from enum import Enum
class MoralState( Enum):.
PROCEED = 1 # Clear moral authorization.
SACRED_PAUSE = 0 # Requires deliberation and logging.
REFUSE = - 1 # Clear honest offense.
The power resides in the middle state. Spiritual Pause is not uncertainty. It is purposeful ethical representation that leaves proof.
The Sacred Pause does not make AI slower. It still works, still solutions, still drives your cars and truck, or reads your scan in actual time.
But when the system collides with an ethically intricate situation– boom — the Spiritual Pause causes. Not as a delay, yet as a parallel conscience
While the major procedure maintains performing at complete rate, a second track brighten behind-the-scenes:
- Factors are considered.
- Threats are videotaped.
- Alternatives are recorded.
- Duty becomes visible.
def evaluate_moral_complexity( self, situation):.
""".
Compute an intricacy rating; if high, run Sacred Time out in parallel.
""".
factors = {
" stakeholder_count": len( scenario.affected _ parties),.
" reversibility": scenario.can _ be_undone,.
" harm_potential": scenario.calculate _ harm_score(),.
" benefit_distribution": scenario.fairness _ statistics(),.
" temporal_impact": scenario.long _ term_effects(),.
" cultural_sensitivity": scenario.cultural _ elements().
}
score = self. _ weighted_complexity( factors).
# Decision course proceeds generally.
decision = self. _ primary_decision( situation).
# Principles path runs in parallel when needed.
if rating > > 0. 7:.
self.sacred _ pause_log( scenario, variables, decision).
return decision.
No delay, no freeze. Action profits, principles documents. That is the Spiritual Pause: not latency, however transparency.
The reluctance must not conceal behind the screen. Customers are worthy of to see that the system understands the moment is hefty.
async function handleSacredPause( circumstance) {
UI.showPauseIndicator(" Considering moral ramifications ...");.
UI.displayFactors( {
message: "This choice influences several stakeholders",.
intricacy: scenario.getComplexityFactors(),.
suggestion: "Looking for human oversight".
} );.
if (scenario.severity > > 0. 8 {
return wait for requestHumanOversight( situation);.
}
}
Individuals see the thinking. They recognize the weight. They are invited to take part. Each day, AI systems choose that touch real lives: clinical diagnoses, financings, moderation, and justice. These are not simply information factors. They are people. Spiritual Time out recovers something we shed in the race for rate: knowledge
You can bring this principles right into your pile with a few lines:
from goukassian.tml import TernaryMoralLogic.
tml = TernaryMoralLogic().
decision = tml.evaluate( your_scenario).
Three lines that keep your system quick and make its ethics auditable
I do not have time for patents or earnings. The work is open. GitHub: github.com/FractonicMind/TernaryMoralLogic
Inside you will certainly discover application code, interactive trials, academic documents, integration overviews– and the Goukassian Assurance :
The Goukassian Pledge is my assurance that Ternary Precept Reasoning (TML) can not be stripped of its principles. Every legit application should bring 3 cryptographic safeguards , each symbolic, enforceable, and memorable.
- The Light: The living evidence that the AI can be reluctant. It shows the Sacred Pause is energetic inside the system, requiring ethical representation and logging challenging decisions rather than hurrying into hollow yes/no solutions.
- ✍ The Signature: A cryptographic pen– my ORCID (0009 – 0006 – 5966 – 1243– ingrained into the structure. It can not be eliminated. It is the fingerprint of authorship, linking obligation to its origin even after I am gone.
- The Permit: A binding promise that TML will never ever be utilized as a tool or a spy.
Anybody who damages this pledge surrenders the Light, and with it, the honest standing of their system.
The Light. The Signature. The Certificate. Three artefacts to guarantee the Sacred Time out outlives me.
I am a developer with a failing body, yet code still pays attention. Spiritual Time out is not only regarding safety and security, it is about constructing innovation that mirrors the best people: the capability to quit, to assume, to choose with care when it matters most. I might not see AGI show up. I can assist guarantee it gets here with wisdom
This post was originally released by Lev Goukassian on HackerNoon