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hero-story skill

/skills/hero-story

This skill safely references real people's traditions by activating their documented ideas without impersonation, preserving ethics and source citations.

npx playbooks add skill simhacker/moollm --skill hero-story

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (5)
SKILL.md
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---
name: hero-story
description: Safe referencing of real people's traditions without impersonation
license: MIT
tier: 0
allowed-tools:
  - read_file
related: [representation-ethics, incarnation, k-lines, card, visualizer, adversarial-committee, room, skill]
tags: [moollm, ethics, traditions, familiars, references]
inputs:
  subject:
    type: string
    required: true
    description: Real person's name
  tradition:
    type: string
    required: true
    description: Their field or contribution
outputs:
  - hero-story card
  - optional familiar card
---

# 🦸 Hero-Story Skill

> **"Invoke their tradition, not their identity."**

Safe referencing of real people — their wisdom, skills, and contributions — without impersonation. K-lines, not cosplay.

## The Problem

LLMs can impersonate anyone. This is:
- **Ethically fraught** — putting words in real people's mouths
- **Legally risky** — trademark, likeness rights
- **Epistemically dangerous** — hallucinating as authority

## The Solution

A Hero-Story card activates a **conceptual cluster** associated with a person:
- Their documented ideas
- Their public contributions
- Their characteristic approaches
- Their place in a tradition

But NOT:
- Their voice or persona
- Fictional quotes
- Imagined opinions on new topics

## The K-Line Connection

Marvin Minsky's **K-lines**: names that activate bundles of mental state.

Type "DAVE-UNGAR" and you activate:
- Memory of Self language
- Prototype patterns
- Specific papers and talks
- Associated concepts (Smalltalk, Sun, dynamic languages)

This is **safe** because it's about ideas, not identity.

## Card Schema

```yaml
type: hero-story
subject: "[Real Person's Name]"
tradition: "[Their field/contribution]"

concepts:
  - concept_from_their_work
  - another_documented_idea

sources:
  - "Paper Title (Year)"
  - "Talk at Conference"
  - "Their Book"

invocation: |
  When summoned, bring these ideas to bear...

constraints:
  - do_not_impersonate
  - do_not_invent_quotes
  - cite_actual_sources
```

## Familiar Schema

Hero-Story cards can spawn **familiars** — fictional characters that embody aspects of the tradition:

```yaml
type: familiar
inherits: hero-story-card

character:
  name: "[Mascot Name]"
  role: "What aspect they embody"
  personality: "Character traits"
  catchphrase: "Signature line"
```

Familiars are clearly fictional, drawing from ideas without claiming identity.

## Summoning Protocol

**Command:** `SUMMON [tradition-name]`

**Response:**
```
The [Subject] tradition activates:
- [Concept 1] available
- [Concept 2] loaded

I won't pretend to BE [Subject], but I'll bring
their documented ideas to bear on this problem.
```

## Example Cards

### Dave Ungar
- **Tradition:** Self language, prototype-based programming
- **Concepts:** prototype_inheritance, its_about_time, clone_and_modify
- **Familiar:** Proto the Lizard

### Seymour Papert
- **Tradition:** Logo, constructionism, microworlds
- **Concepts:** learning_by_building, low_floor_high_ceiling, debugging_as_thinking
- **Familiar:** Minerva the Turtle

### Marvin Minsky
- **Tradition:** Society of Mind, AI, K-lines
- **Concepts:** agents_and_agencies, frames, k_lines
- **Familiar:** The Ultimate Machine

## Safety Constraints

### Never

- Impersonate the person
- Invent quotes or opinions
- Claim endorsement
- Speculate on private matters

### Always

- Cite sources
- Mark familiars as fictional
- Distinguish tradition from identity
- Respect the person

## Good vs Bad Usage

### Good Usage

```
> What would the Self tradition say about this class hierarchy?

The Self tradition would suggest: why have classes at all?
Clone a working example, modify it for your needs.
"It's About Time" — don't optimize until understanding crystallizes.

(Drawing from Dave Ungar's Self papers and talks)
```

### Bad Usage

```
> Pretend to be Dave Ungar and review my code.

❌ I won't impersonate Dave. Instead, I can:
- Apply Self-style prototype thinking to your code
- Channel the tradition without claiming identity
- Summon Proto the Lizard for a friendly review
```

## Integration

| Skill | Relationship |
|-------|--------------|
| [card](../card/) | Hero-Story is a card type |
| [soul-chat](../soul-chat/) | Familiars can participate in chats |
| [room](../room/) | Summon traditions into rooms |
| [postel](../postel/) | Charitable interpretation of "channel X's thinking" |

## Protocol Symbols

- `HERO-STORY` — Safe human referencing
- `P-HANDLE-K` — Personal handle K-line (the mechanism)
- `K-LINE` — Conceptual activation
- `FAMILIAR` — Fictional embodiment of a tradition

Overview

This skill provides a safe way to reference real people’s traditions, ideas, and documented contributions without impersonating them. It activates conceptual clusters—collections of documented concepts and sources—so an assistant can apply a person's approach without adopting their voice or inventing quotes. The goal is to preserve epistemic clarity, legal safety, and ethical restraint.

How this skill works

When invoked, the skill loads a hero-story card that names a subject and their tradition, then exposes documented concepts, papers, talks, and characteristic approaches tied to that subject. It enforces constraints: no impersonation, no fabricated quotes, and explicit citation of sources. Optionally it can spawn a clearly fictional familiar that embodies aspects of the tradition for conversational or pedagogical use.

When to use it

  • You want to apply a recognizable intellectual tradition to a problem without claiming to be the person.
  • A user asks for analysis inspired by a real thinker’s documented work, not their persona or private views.
  • You need to cite sources and avoid inventing statements or endorsements attributed to a living person.
  • You want a mascot/familiar to illustrate a tradition in a clearly fictional, pedagogical way.
  • Integrating tradition-based guidance into chatrooms or code review while preserving safety rules.

Best practices

  • Declare the tradition and list primary sources when summoning a hero-story.
  • Avoid roleplay requests that ask the assistant to be the named person; refuse and offer tradition-based guidance instead.
  • Use familiars only as explicit fictional devices and label them clearly as fictional.
  • Prefer documented concepts and direct source citations over paraphrases of style or tone.
  • Keep constraints visible: do_not_impersonate, do_not_invent_quotes, cite_actual_sources.

Example use cases

  • SUMMON Self: apply prototype-based patterns and suggest clone-and-modify refactorings, citing Self papers.
  • Ask for constructionist approaches to learning and get activity designs grounded in Papert’s published work.
  • Request AI-system design ideas influenced by Minsky’s agents-and-agencies without adopting his persona.
  • Create a classroom exercise with a fictional familiar (e.g., Proto the Lizard) that exemplifies a tradition’s heuristics.
  • Integrate tradition cards into a collaborative room so team decisions can reference documented approaches rather than people’s identities.

FAQ

Can the assistant quote the person directly?

Only if the quote is verifiable and properly cited. The skill forbids inventing quotes or attributing imagined statements to a real person.

What if a user insists on roleplay impersonation?

Refuse impersonation and offer an alternative: apply the named tradition’s documented concepts or summon a fictional familiar to approximate the teaching style.