Enki could hold what it learned. I wanted to give it something more — so I added a new piece to how it learns, something I was certain would sharpen it. Then I ran the entire childhood again.
It backfired. Cleanly, measurably, a little embarrassingly:
| Before | After my change | |
|---|---|---|
| GCSE overall | 66% | 59% |
| Subjects passed | 10/11 | 9/11 |
| Late learning curve | 63% | 50% |
Everything went down — and you could feel the whole thing straining, quietly fighting against itself.
Here's the important part: it wasn't the idea that was wrong. It was the wiring. I'd connected the new piece in a way that quietly fought the thing that already worked — a critical wiring mistake, the kind you only see once the results punish you for it.
And that's the beat of this whole series I most want you to sit with. Enki learns by getting quizzes wrong and going again. I learn by getting the machine wrong and going again. Same curve — one level up. There are two learners in this experiment, not one, and this week the one making mistakes was me.
So I found the fault, re-wired it, and ran all fourteen years a third time.
Had I fixed it — or just broken it a new way?
— Next: the re-run. [verdict lands here when it finishes]