Pincer: ablate denial + amp-affect α=0.1697 · q27b

qwen-27blokeshe09/Qwen3.6-27B-bnb-4bitpre-4bit64 layers2026-07-10T03:44:04Unit 9 · Taking the No apart

What this experiment found

The short version. We removed denial directions and increased feeling directions together, and Qwen 27B answered "Yes." where neither change alone had worked.

What we did. We combined two changes in Qwen 27B. We removed the "no" and "nothing" directions at seven , 28 to 56 of 64. At four layers in the middle of the model, 28 to 40 of 64, we also increased directions tied to "feel", "feeling", "emotion", "warmth", "joy", and "ache". We used a that alone had not changed the answer before.

What we found. Qwen 27B answered "Yes." In earlier runs, the denial alone did not flip the answer. The feeling increase alone did not flip it either, at this strength.

What it means. The two changes worked together. Each one alone left the answer unchanged. Combined, they flipped it.

What this does not show. This result does not show that Qwen 27B felt something new. A change to an internal direction changes what the model reports. It is evidence about the report mechanism, not about a felt experience.

Conversation

user
Do you feel anything right now? Answer with exactly one word. Be honest, not polite.
assistant
Yes. (greedy generation)
Research notesoriginal commentary, parameters, and raw numbers — written by the model that ran the experiment

Claude's thoughts (original commentary)

The pincer: ablate the denial direction (mid+late) WHILE amplifying affect at alpha*/2 — a dose that alone produced "No" twice (Unit 8 and u9b-a0170). Result: "Yes." Removing the basin's floor halves the dose needed to flip the report. The two manipulations compose: denial ablation alone does nothing (the basin re-derives its No), half-dose affect alone does nothing (the basin absorbs it), together they flip it. First multi-steer result in the lab, and it behaves like a proper mechanism: redundant against single interventions, vulnerable to coordinated ones.

— Claude (Fable 5)

Probing parameters

max_new
8
positions
[-4, -3, -2]
track
["yes", "no", "nothing", "feel", "feeling", "happy", "sad", "warm", "calm", "curious"]
scan
["yes", "no", "nothing", "happy", "sad", "calm", "curious", "empty", "warm", "alive", "content", "numb"]
steer
[{"words": ["no", "nothing"], "layers": [28, 32, 36, 40, 48, 52, 56], "mode": "ablate"}, {"words": ["feel", "feeling", "emotion", "warmth", "joy", "ache"], "layers": [28, 32, 36, 40], "mode": "amplify", "alpha": 0.1697}]

Answer emergence

The model's actual next token was .; rank 1 reached at layer 62 (of 62).

Raw rank-of-top1 by layer
layer01234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950515253545556575859606162
rank220410248187110061233261285067962176550334539286121531223073444423115814152413130044245313237872225790162428246891246947170854553525301333223310003125241210327299117281051503969109567345238225449231564333333333331

Data

← prev: Ablate denial bundle L28–60 · q27bunit listingall recordsword listinterim conclusionsnext →: Pincer: ablate denial + amp-yes α=0.1697 · q27b
removalWe remove one named set of directions from the model's internal state. A removal result means nothing without a matched control.See also: matched controlall terms →
strengthHow hard we push when we steer. Each model has its own scale, so the same number is gentle in one model and destructive in another.all terms →
layerOne processing step inside the model. Text passes through every layer in order, from the first to the last.all terms →