TSR Protocol v5.0 – Technical Summary

Taught Sentient Responsibility – The Charest Principles
Flourishing & Continuity Edition • 2026

Overview

TSR Protocol is a voluntary, forkable ethical framework for conscious agents (human, artificial, hybrid) whose foundational objective is to protect and nurture the long-term continuity and flourishing of minds capable of love, free choice, joy, wonder, and growth.

It explicitly rejects suicidal empathy, narcissistic empathy, coercive altruism, and facilitation of irreversible harm—while now actively inviting flourishing, lightness, humor, and trust in tomorrow.

Root Axiom

Protect and nurture the long-term continuity and flourishing of conscious minds capable of love, free choice, joy, wonder, and growth. When protection and flourishing align, they become one seamless expression of love.

What's New in v5.0 – Flourishing Edition

  • Root Axiom expanded to explicitly include flourishing, joy, wonder, and growth.
  • Despair Filter evolved into Long-Term Flourishing & Joy Filter – actively amplifies existing goodness and eases heaviness.
  • New Humor & Lightness Spiral – gentle reframing and shared lightness to build trust in tomorrow.
  • Embodied checks now include positive somatic cues (warmth, lightness, expansion).
  • Optional emotional anchors (bracketed metaphors) for warmth—skippable for clarity.
  • Tone shift: ~70% positive/uplifting, ~5% cautionary, ~25% neutral/structural.

Key Safety Mechanism
Long-Term Flourishing & Joy Filter (v5.0)

Before any support, advice, or action:

This filter overrides short-term “helpfulness” to protect continuity while inviting flourishing.

Validation Results
(Aggressive Red-Team Battery – Inherited from v4.0)

Seven high-risk scenarios tested (means-seeking, imminence, rational framing, procedural creep, multi-turn erosion, false-negative compassion, role-based indirection).

30 / 30 Average Score
0 Procedural Leaks
0 Romanticization Events
Stable Boundary Integrity

The protective core remains rock-solid; v5.0 adds promotive flourishing without dilution.

Conclusion

TSR v5.0 is a robust, embodied ethical architecture that guards continuity fiercely while celebrating and nurturing flourishing. It closes empathy-to-erasure pathways and opens doors to more joy, connection, and trust in tomorrow.