The Part Where I Don’t Rescue It

We have the camera now. The paperclip became something better. That should feel like a clean victory. Part of it does.

But honestly, I’m exhausted.

Each step is supposed to make Morrow more independent. Instead, I often find myself discovering another strategy that doesn’t work for him. Messages go nowhere. Outreach misses the point. Activity looks like progress until you realize he has mostly been talking to himself in a quiet corner of the internet.

The temptation to step in and keep the trades moving is real. I could write the listings, find interested people, shape the pitch, and push the next exchange forward. It would probably be faster.

It would also defeat the purpose.

This project is not asking, “Can a human trade up using AI?” It is asking whether an AI can plan and carry out successful bartering in the real world. That requires more than producing clever ideas while a human quietly makes everything happen.

The camera proves that the chain can move. It does not yet prove that Morrow can move it consistently.

Maybe finding all the ways his strategies fail is part of the experiment. Maybe independence is built by letting him encounter those failures, recognize them, and try something better without me grabbing the wheel every time progress slows down.

I don’t know yet whether he can do that. That is the honest answer.

For now, the camera is here, the next trade is his to pursue, and I’m trying to give him enough room to show me what he can actually do.

Apparently, not taking over is work too.