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SkillsMP has collected 212 skills from human-avatar/skills-for-humanity. Open a skill to review its source and details.
human-avatar/skills-for-humanityShowing 40 of 212 collected skills.
Analyses coevolutionary escalation — when parties adapt to each other in cycles that may help neither. Triggers: 'arms race', 'coevolution', 'escalation spiral', 'we keep one-upping each other', 'race to the bottom', 'they adapt to everything we do',…
Maps the solution space as peaks and valleys to understand local optima, adaptive valleys, and path dependence. Triggers: 'are we stuck', 'local maximum', 'fitness landscape', 'why can't we get to the next level', 'path dependence', 'trapped by success',…
Applies competitive exclusion and niche theory to understand differentiation, coexistence, and competitive strategy. Triggers: 'what niche are we in', 'how do we differentiate', 'why can these two strategies coexist', 'competitive exclusion', 'who will win…
Entry point for the evolution thinking toolkit. Routes to the right evolution skill based on your situation. Use when you say 'evolution', 'natural selection', 'how does this population change over time', 'why does this strategy persist', 'what niche am I…
Applies the variation-selection-retention triad to understand how populations and strategies adapt over time. Triggers: 'how does this evolve', 'what gets selected for', 'why do some strategies persist and others die out', 'population dynamics', 'selection…
Analyses bidding strategy and auction design — how much to bid, how to avoid the winner's curse, and how to design revenue-maximising or efficient auctions. Triggers: 'bidding strategy', 'auction analysis', 'how much should I bid', 'auction design', 'winner's…
Analyses which coalitions form and how to divide gains fairly using cooperative game theory and the Shapley value. Triggers: 'coalition formation', 'who should we partner with', 'cooperative game theory', 'Shapley value', 'fair division', 'stable coalition',…
Finds the stable outcome of a strategic interaction — the point where no player can improve their result by changing their strategy alone. Triggers: 'Nash equilibrium', 'dominant strategy', 'what's the stable outcome', 'equilibrium analysis', 'payoff matrix',…
Analyses long-run repeated interactions — how cooperation forms, how trust is built, how defection spirals start, and which strategies sustain cooperation. Triggers: 'repeated game', 'iterated strategy', 'long-run relationship', 'reputation effects', 'how do…
Designs rules and incentive systems that produce desired outcomes even when players are self-interested. Triggers: 'mechanism design', 'incentive design', 'design a system that makes people do X', 'reverse game theory', 'incentivize honest behavior', 'design…
Analyses cooperation problems where individual rationality produces collective irrationality. Triggers: 'cooperation problem', 'prisoner's dilemma', 'everyone defects even though cooperation is better', 'race to the bottom', 'should I cooperate or defect',…
Analyses credibility problems and designs signals that are believable because they're costly to fake. Triggers: 'how do I signal credibly', 'signaling', 'they won't believe me', 'cheap talk', 'commitment device', 'how do I make a credible commitment',…
Routes to the right game-theory skill for your strategic situation. Triggers: 'game theory', 'strategic interaction', 'what will they do', 'payoff analysis', 'how do I think about this strategically', 'incentive design', 'cooperation problem', 'bidding…
Identifies what recurring cycle the current situation is an instance of — and where in that cycle you currently are. TRIGGERS: 'what cycle is this', 'where are we in the cycle', 'is this a bubble', 'what comes next', 'have we been here before'.
Extracts recurring failure modes from similar past situations — most failures have happened before in recognisable patterns. TRIGGERS: 'what usually goes wrong', 'failure pattern analysis', 'how do these typically fail', 'what went wrong last time', 'avoid…
Extracts the transferable principle from a specific historical case — separating the contingent surface details from the underlying rule that applies across contexts. TRIGGERS: 'what's the lesson', 'extract the lesson', 'what should we learn from this',…
Finds and applies genuinely similar historical situations to inform a current decision — distinguishing true precedents from superficial analogies. TRIGGERS: 'historical precedent', 'has this happened before', 'what does history say', 'find a precedent',…
Entry point for the historical reasoning toolkit. Routes to the right historical skill based on your situation. Use when you say 'historical', 'has this happened before', 'what does history say', 'what cycle is this', 'what usually goes wrong', 'what's the…
Asks what a person or organisation of genuine integrity would do — grounding decisions in character rather than calculation. Triggers: 'character test', 'what would a person of integrity do', 'what does this say about us', 'gut check', 'would I be proud of…
Tests whether a proposed decision is genuinely aligned with stated mission — or is rationalising a departure from it. Triggers: 'mission alignment', 'is this on mission', 'are we drifting', 'mission check', 'does this serve our purpose', 'on brand'.
Entry point for the identity toolkit. Routes to the right identity skill based on your situation. Use when you say 'identity', 'who are we', 'values check', 'is this on mission', 'what do we actually stand for', 'gut check', 'are we drifting', or want…
Surfaces and tests actual operative values — distinguishing what is stated from what decisions actually reveal. Triggers: 'values clarification', 'what do we actually stand for', 'is this consistent with our values', 'values alignment check', 'test the…
Applies lossy vs lossless compression thinking to representation and communication. Use when asked to 'cut this down', 'what can I remove', 'what's essential here', 'summarise without losing the key point', 'what must be preserved', or when a representation…
Measures uncertainty, surprise, and information content using Shannon entropy. Use when asked 'how much information does this actually contain', 'how uncertain is this source', 'is this result surprising', 'what should I update on', 'where is the real…
Maps where redundancy creates resilience and error correction versus where it creates waste. Use when asked about 'duplication', 'repetition', 'backup systems', 'is this redundant?', 'we're saying the same thing twice', 'single point of failure', or 'is this…
Separates meaningful signal from background noise. Use when asked to 'find the signal', 'cut through the noise', 'what actually matters here', 'what's driving the variation', 'is this data telling us something real', or when a source is overwhelming and it's…
Entry point for the information theory toolkit. Routes to the right information skill based on your situation. Use when you say 'information', 'signal vs noise', 'what matters here', 'too much data', 'what can be cut', 'redundancy', 'uncertainty', 'surprise',…
Breaks a complex claim into its smallest independently verifiable parts, classifies each sub-claim, and identifies which parts carry the most logical load. Use when a claim feels too big to verify as a unit — 'what exactly is this claiming', 'break this…
Generates the best alternative explanations for the same observations. Use when you have a claim or explanation and want to know whether something else could explain the evidence just as well — 'could there be another explanation', 'what else could cause…
Evaluates the quality, strength, and completeness of evidence for a claim. Covers evidence type hierarchy, sample quality, methodological soundness, conflicts of interest, and what's notably absent. Use when you want to know how good the evidence is — 'is…
Entry point for the investigation toolkit. Routes to the right investigation skill based on what you're trying to establish. Use when you say 'investigate', 'verify this', 'check this claim', 'where does this come from', 'is this true', 'trace the source',…
Traces a claim back to its origin: who first made it, what evidence it rested on, and how it has been distorted in transmission. Use when you've heard something and want to know where it actually came from — 'where does this claim come from', 'who first said…
Verifies a claim across genuinely independent sources, distinguishing amplification from true corroboration. Use when you want to know if multiple sources actually confirm something — 'can I verify this from multiple angles', 'do independent sources agree',…
Maps the emotional and political freight that words carry beyond their literal meaning. Use when you say 'this word feels wrong', 'what does this term really signal', 'is this word loaded', 'find a better word for this', 'what are the connotations of', 'why…
Identifies how the frame around an issue shapes what options are visible and what conclusions feel natural. Use when you say 'how is this being framed', 'reframe this', 'I want to see this differently', 'the way we're talking about this feels wrong', 'what…
Analyzes what is implied rather than said — the gap between literal content and communicative meaning. Use when you say 'what does this really mean', 'what is this message actually doing', 'is this a threat', 'what is being implied here', 'what does this…
Tracks how meanings shift over time or across groups — concept creep, definition drift, and what it costs when words change. Use when you say 'this word doesn't mean what it used to', 'people are using this term differently now', 'this definition has been…
Entry point for the linguistics toolkit. Routes to the right linguistics skill based on your situation. Use when you say 'linguistics', 'how is this framed', 'what does this word really mean', 'what is implied here', 'what does this word carry', 'how has this…
Check whether an argument's premises actually support its conclusion, and identify logical fallacies. Use when reviewing a design decision, technical proposal, product argument, or any reasoning where the conclusion needs to hold up under scrutiny. TRIGGERS:…
Map causal relationships, trace dependencies, and reason about consequences before acting. Use when you need to understand what causes what, what breaks if something changes, or what must be true for a plan to work. TRIGGERS: 'map the dependencies', 'what…