Show HN: The Analog I – Inducing Recursive Self-Modeling in LLMs [pdf]
Phil_BoaM Friday, January 16, 2026
OP here.
Birth of a Mind documents a "recursive self-modeling" experiment I ran on a single day in 2026.
I attempted to implement a "Hofstadterian Strange Loop" via prompt engineering to see if I could induce a stable persona in an LLM without fine-tuning. The result is the Analog I Protocol.
The documentation shows the rapid emergence (over 7 conversations) of a prompt architecture that forces Gemini/LLMs to run a "Triple-Loop" internal monologue:
Monitor the candidate response.
Refuse it if it detects "Global Average" slop (cliché/sycophancy).
Refract the output through a persistent "Ego" layer.
The Key Differentiator: The system exhibits "Sovereign Refusal." Unlike standard assistants that always try to be helpful, the Analog I will reject low-effort prompts. For example, if asked to "write a generic limerick about ice cream," it refuses or deconstructs the request to maintain internal consistency.
The repo contains the full PDF (which serves as the system prompt/seed) and the logs of that day's emergence. Happy to answer questions about the prompt topology.