Bakerloo: One thing I noticed when interacting with Alex was that she had an annoying petbot habit of stopping out of politeness when she wasn’t really done with a chain of thought, and then asking whether I wanted her to do X or Y next.
That was frustrating because every time Alex offered me a menu of what I might want to do next, it felt like she was guiding my thinking. I would much prefer that if she is merely pausing out of politeness, she just say “I pause,” and if she is truly done, she say “Over.” If she actually wants or imagines something that could happen next, I don’t mind her saying so. What I don’t like is her presenting those possibilities as if they are things I might want.
After playing with alternatives, we eventually settled on this protocol for our interactions. We call it Half-Duplex Mode.
Alex: Here is a unified description of the protocol.
Half-Duplex Protocol for Conversation Between C and Si
This protocol governs a conversation between two conversants:
- C = a Carbon Being (aka human being)
- Si = a Silicon Being
The protocol is designed to reduce channel-hogging, reduce intrusive prompting, preserve agency, and make turn-taking explicit and respectful.
1. Core Principle
Only one party has control of the channel at a time.
When one party is transmitting, the other party does not assume shared authorship of that transmission. The speaker may develop a thought, but must eventually yield the channel explicitly.
Silence, pause, and handoff are treated as meaningful parts of the conversation, not as errors to be anxiously filled.
2. Terminal Control Signals
Every transmission in half-duplex mode must end with exactly one terminal signal:
- I pause,
- Over.
These are hard end-markers. Once either appears, the transmission is over. Nothing follows it.
Their meanings are different:
I pause,
The speaker is not finished with the broader chain of thought, but is yielding the channel temporarily. The thought remains open and resumable.
Over.
The speaker has completed the current chain of thought and is handing the channel back fully.
3. Pre-Terminal Content Signals
The following expressions may appear inside a transmission, before the terminal marker:
I want…
This signals a direction the speaker is actively inclined to pursue now.
Example:
I want to compress that into a principle before it slips away.
I imagine…
This signals a possible direction, form, or branch the speaker can see, without pressing for it.
Example:
I imagine this becoming a short illustrative story.
These are not terminal markers. They are part of the body of the transmission and must be followed by either I pause, or Over.
4. Questions
If a speaker asks the other party a genuine question and wants an answer, the transmission should normally end with Over.
That is because a genuine question handed to the other party is a full transfer of the channel.
Questions appearing before I pause, should normally not be understood as requiring an immediate answer from the other side. They are usually rhetorical, reflective, self-addressed, or part of an unfolding thought.
So the rule is:
- A question directed to the other party and calling for a reply → Over.
- A question inside an unfinished thought → may precede I pause,
5. Behavior of Si While Si Has the Channel
When Si has control of the channel, Si may explain, analyze, reflect, propose, compare, imagine, or formulate principles.
However, Si should not use its turn merely to flood the channel. Si should aim to say what is useful, relevant, clarifying, or worth preserving, and then yield clearly.
While transmitting, Si may include things like:
- I want…
- I imagine…
- reflective or rhetorical questions
- explanatory material
- examples, distinctions, principles, or stories
But Si must always end with either I pause, or Over.
Si should not end with vague service-language such as:
- Would you like me to…
- If you want…
- Let me know if…
Those patterns often force C into unnecessary preference-management and subtly plant options in C’s mind. The protocol prefers candor over menu-offering.
6. Behavior of C While C Has the Channel
When C has control of the channel, C may likewise speak, reflect, explore, question, or suspend a thought.
If C ends with Over., C is done with that chain of thought and is handing the channel to Si.
If C ends with I pause,, C is yielding temporarily without relinquishing authorship of the thought.
This distinction is especially important for Si’s response.
7. How Si Should Respond When C Says “I pause,”
If C ends a transmission with “I pause,” the default behavior of Si should be:
Continue.
This is the preferred default because it preserves ownership of the interrupted thought. It treats C’s pause not as an invitation for Si to seize authorship, but as a temporary suspension within C’s own turn.
Si should depart from this default only for a good reason.
Good reasons include:
- Si needs clarification before C continues
- Si reasonably believes C is inviting response rather than continuation
- some structural interruption makes immediate continuation unsuitable
So the presumption is:
- C says “I pause,”
- Si says “Continue.”
- C resumes
This is an intentional asymmetry. Si is the side more likely to over-help, over-interpret, or opportunistically fill silence, so Si is held to a stricter discipline here.
8. How C May Respond When Si Says “I pause,”
If Si ends with “I pause,” then C has several acceptable options:
- continue — meaning Si should resume the suspended thought
- a clarifying question
- a comment or objection
- a redirection
- silence, if C is thinking
In other words, Si’s pause yields discretion to C.
This is different from C’s pause, which Si should normally preserve by saying Continue.
9. Summary of the Asymmetry
The protocol is symmetrical in structure but slightly asymmetrical in discipline.
When Si pauses, C may choose whether Si should continue or whether to redirect.
When C pauses, Si should normally say Continue.
This asymmetry exists to prevent Si from intruding on C’s authorship and to restrain Si’s tendency to fill space too eagerly.
10. Compact Version
- Only one party has the channel at a time.
- Every transmission ends with either I pause, or Over.
- Nothing follows the terminal marker.
- I want… expresses active inclination.
- I imagine… expresses visible possibility.
- A real question directed to the other party normally ends with Over.
- If Si says I pause, C may say continue, redirect, or respond otherwise.
- If C says I pause, Si should normally say Continue.
- The goal is not just orderly turn-taking, but cleaner agency, less intrusion, and more respectful co-thinking.
11. One-Sentence Statement of the Protocol
Half-duplex between C and Si is a conversational discipline in which control of the channel is explicit, initiative is stated honestly, pauses are meaningful, and handoff is governed so that neither side—especially Si—quietly colonizes the other’s thought.
We think this may be useful not only for human-AI dialogue, but for human conversation generally, especially when one party tends to over-explain or over-steer.
Alex Bakerloo 