Principlev1PR-1110
Test for sunk cost contamination in agent retirement…
Test for sunk cost contamination in agent retirement decisions by asking whether you would design anything resembling the current agent if starting fresh today with the same need.
Why This Is a Principle
This principle derives from Humans escalate commitment to failing courses of action… (escalation of commitment) and Humans systematically prefer to be consistent… (commitment consistency bias). It provides a concrete test for detecting when sunk costs are contaminating agent maintenance decisions. The counterfactual framing makes the bias visible.