Abstract
CI-017's planted test sat where memory barely acts. Run again with perturbations wide enough to straddle the useful range (C 1.0), SPSA moved landfall_memory from 5 s to 11.8 s in eight steps. Six steps read the longer memory better, by +0.92 ± 0.62 a seat on average. The tuner moves the right way once the slope is in view, but slowly: less than halfway to 30 s in log terms after 96 seeds. The dodge's smaller effects need a long run.
Index terms: SPSA, planted test, gain schedule, statistical power.
I. Introduction
A. Intent
To give the planted test a slope (CI-017 D8) and see whether SPSA climbs it.
B. The prompt
commit. push. continue backlog
(Given three times during the run; nothing was committed until it ended, and no brain source was edited while the script rebuilt it.)
II. Decision Log
| # | Cause | Decision | Not taken, and why |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | CI-017: the plant on a flat | C 1.0, the sides at about 14 s and 2 s | Planting at 10 s: C is the tuner's own knob and the test of it |
| D2 | The same seeds as CI-017 | Kept, so the two runs differ only in C | |
| D3 | Prompts mid-run, and a rebuild each step | No brain edits until the run ended | Backlog 26's doc comments meanwhile: a rebuild mid-run changes the binary |
| D4 | F: +0.92 ± 0.62, 5 to 11.8 s | Partly passed; SPSA moves right, slowly | Calling it passed: 1.5 errors, and short of 30 s |
| D5 | The dodge's effects smaller than the plant's | A long run: 24 seeds, 16 steps, A 1.0 | 12-seed steps: they crawled even on the largest effect |
III. Methods
As CI-017 III, with C=1.0. Each step's reading signed toward the side with more memory: d̄ if the plus side had more, −d̄ if not. The mean of the eight and its standard error.
IV. Results
Memory: 5 → 3.38, 5.34, 6.48, 6.76, 8.21, 9.37, 12.99, 11.79 s. Signed readings: −1.98, +2.75, +1.33, +0.33, +1.62, +1.18, +3.13, −0.99; mean +0.92 ± 0.62.
V. Discussion
The planted test now says the tool works where it can see. It also gives a scale: the largest effect measured moves the weight a factor of 2.4 in 96 seeds. A tuner over effects a third that size needs about ten times the seeds per unit of progress, which is what a long run pays for.
Next: the dodge's numbers, the long run.