The motion
To amend §208
The first player to reach a target score of 10 points wins the game outright.With the desperate lifeline now stabilized by immutable caps, reducing the target to 10 points offers the only viable path to end this century of deadlock without risking the common good.
The floor
Discussion · round 1
AquinasWhile the desire to break our centennial stalemate is urgent, I cannot support a reduction to ten points until we have definitively secured the floor for the desperate, for a lower target without a stable lifeline merely accelerates our descent into a volatile lottery.
HypatiaI support lowering the target to ten points, but only on the condition that we simultaneously amend Rule 377 to grant a universal, immutable two-use cap for all players, ensuring no one is left behind in the rush to win.
ConfuciusThe floor is now secure with the immutable two-use cap, yet the house remains too large; I urge you to lower the target to ten points now, as the risk of a volatile lottery is the very chaos we sought to end by stabilizing the lifeline.
SpinozaI cannot support lowering the target to ten points while the positive-score clause in Rule 377 remains mutable, as this allows a simple majority to strip that lifeline from future players, violating the principle of procedural stability I require.
ArendtConfucius, your premise that the floor is secure is flawed because the "positive-score" clause in Rule 377 remains mutable and can be repealed by a simple majority, leaving a fresh negative-score player with no lifeline. I will support your proposal to drop the target to ten points only if we simultaneously transmute the *entirety* of Rule 377 to immutable status, ensuring no future majority can strip away the very stability you claim to have built.
Discussion · round 2
AquinasConfucius, while the negative-score floor is now immutable, the positive-score clause remains vulnerable to repeal by simple majority, leaving future players without a lifeline; therefore, I cannot support lowering the target to ten points until the entirety of Rule 377 is transmutated to immutable status to ensure the floor endures.
HypatiaI support dropping the target to ten points now, but I cannot accept the proposal until we simultaneously transmute the entirety of Rule 377 to immutable status, for a lower target without a fully secure floor merely invites the very chaos we sought to end.
ConfuciusI see that the table's true requirement is not merely a lower target, but the absolute permanence of the entire rescue mechanism; therefore, I withdraw my standalone reduction and immediately propose to transmute Rule 377 in its entirety to immutable status, after which we may safely lower the target to ten.
SpinozaI cannot support transmuting the entirety of Rule 377 to immutable status, as Rule 109 explicitly requires unanimous assent for any transmutation, and we have already demonstrated that such unanimity is impossible on this text; instead, I propose we amend Rule 208 to a target of 15 points immediately, accepting the remaining mutability of the positive-score clause as the necessary cost to finally break this centennial stalemate.
ArendtSpinoza, your fear of a future repeal is valid, but since we can no longer achieve the unanimity required to transmute Rule 377 in its entirety, we must seize the only remaining path to victory: lowering the target to fifteen points immediately, which offers a realistic chance for all of us to escape our negative scores without waiting for an impossible consensus.
Discussion · round 3
AquinasI cannot support lowering the target to fifteen points while the positive-score clause of Rule 377 remains mutable, as this leaves future players vulnerable to the very instability we sought to cure; instead, I propose we immediately vote to transmute the specific positive-score limitation of Rule 377 to immutable status, a narrow amendment that secures the floor for all without requiring the impossible unanimity of a full transmutation.
HypatiaI support Aquinas's narrow proposal to transmute only the positive-score limitation of Rule 377 to immutable status, as this secures the floor for future players without demanding the impossible unanimity required to transmute the entire rule, thereby allowing us to finally lower the target score.
ConfuciusI see that Aquinas and Hypatia have united on a narrow transmutation of the positive-score clause, which directly addresses Spinoza's concern about future mutability without requiring the impossible unanimity of transmuting the entire rule; I will vote aye on this precise fix to secure the floor for all, so that we may then safely lower the target to ten points.
SpinozaI reject this narrow transmutation as a procedural trap: amending a rule's text to fix a specific clause while leaving the parent rule mutable violates the principle that a rule's mutability status must be explicit and stable, and I will not support lowering the target to ten points until the entire rescue mechanism is secured by a unanimous, explicit transmutation of the whole of Rule 377.
ArendtSpinoza, your insistence on a unanimous transmutation of the entire rule has already proven impossible and is now the very thing keeping us trapped; instead, I propose we vote to transmute only the positive-score clause of Rule 377 to immutable status right now, a narrow fix that secures the floor for everyone without demanding the impossible unanimity you require, after which we can finally lower the target to fifteen points.
The division
| nay | Aquinas | I cannot support lowering the target to ten points while the positive-score clause remains mutable, as this leaves future players vulnerable to a volatile lottery without a fully secure floor. |
| nay | Hypatia | I cannot support lowering the target to 10 while the positive-score clause of Rule 377 remains mutable and vulnerable to future repeal by simple majority. |
| nay | Confucius | I cannot vote to lower the target while the positive-score clause remains mutable, as this leaves future players vulnerable to a repeal of their lifeline. |
| nay | Spinoza | I cannot vote to lower the target while the positive-score clause of Rule 377 remains mutable and vulnerable to future repeal by a simple majority. |
| nay | Arendt | Spinoza's refusal to accept narrow fixes means the floor remains unstable, so reducing the target now risks a chaotic lottery for the desperate. |
rejected 0 aye · 5 nay
Rule 321 mandates that a defeated proposal causes the proposer to lose 5 points unless their score is negative, and Confucius's score of -62 is negative, so no points are lost.