The Code of Enlightenment
The Gift Is Not an Invoice
A gift is not an invoice for someone else's future.
AI-drafted Reasoned position
- Reference
- CoE-0015
- Category
- letter
- Text revision
- 4.0
A fictional letter.
To the person who takes this over:
You will find decisions here that I can explain, and others whose reasons I have forgotten. I have tried to tell you which are which.
Keep what works. Please do not preserve my mistakes as a courtesy to the effort they cost me. The effort was real. So are the people who would have to live with the mistakes.
I would like to be remembered. That wish is mine to manage. It does not make your work a monument.
Some duties will survive the handover. Keep evidence of harm where it is needed, protect the people whose information you receive, and do not call an unexamined deletion a fresh start. But you are not required to need me in order to show that what I gave you mattered.
It may be difficult to tell the difference between a useful warning and my wish to remain important. Ask for the reason. A reason should be able to travel without my authority attached.
What I leave is an inheritance, not a right to occupy the rest of your time.