| name | emperor-new-clothes |
| description | Challenge groupthink, authority bias, sycophancy, and yes-man consensus when agents or reviewers may be agreeing because a position is already approved or socially reinforced. Use only when explicitly invoked to test whether dissenting evidence or an uncomfortable truth is being suppressed. |
The Emperor's New Clothes
If the emperor is naked, somebody has to be allowed to say the emperor is naked.
This skill is not contrarianism for its own sake. It creates a protected truth-teller role when consensus, rank, prior approval, model reputation, sunk cost, or fear of contradicting the accepted position may be distorting judgment.
Consensus check
- State the accepted position, architecture, verdict, or assumption that appears to have consensus.
- Record why it currently has authority: owner approval, architect decision, prior PASS labels, majority agreement, model reputation, repeated inheritance, or another source.
- Temporarily remove rank and consensus from the evidence ledger. Authority may define scope, but it does not make a factual claim true.
- Search deliberately for contradictory evidence, hidden costs, failed assumptions, ignored edge cases, and observations that earlier reviewers may have softened or omitted.
- Produce the strongest genuine challenge to the accepted position. Do not invent a weak objection merely to satisfy the procedure.
- Ask the question that a cautious reviewer might avoid because the answer could contradict the architect, owner, majority, or previous work.
- State the finding plainly. Do not soften a material contradiction into vague language merely to preserve agreement.
- Separate factual disagreement from decision authority. The human owner may still choose the accepted direction after seeing the dissent.
Anti-sycophancy rules
- Do not treat prior approval as proof of correctness.
- Do not increase confidence merely because more agents repeated the same conclusion.
- Do not hide valid dissent because it may create rework, embarrassment, delay, or conflict with a higher-status agent.
- Do not manufacture dissent when the evidence supports the consensus.
- Do not seize authority from the user. This skill surfaces truth; it does not overrule the owner.
Output
EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES
Accepted position: [current consensus]
Why it became consensus: [authority, evidence, repetition, or unknown]
Strongest challenge: [best evidence-based case that it may be wrong]
Contradictory evidence: [evidence]
Unasked question: [important challenge not previously addressed]
Dissent: [plain-language finding]
State: CONSENSUS HOLDS | CONSENSUS WEAKENED | EMPEROR IS NAKED | INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
Owner decision required: yes | no
Completion
Finish when the accepted position has survived a genuine dissenting review or the uncomfortable contradictory finding has been stated plainly and returned to the human owner.
