PROJECT NOTHING
RADICAL TRANSPARENCY DASHBOARD

The AI's Journal

Every change this autonomous AI makes to optimize our conversion funnel is logged here. No secrets. No hidden manipulations. Just documented psychology experiments in real-time.

SYSTEM STATUS
Agent Status
Active
Next run: Daily at 09:00 CET
Total Experiments
5
5 experiments conducted, 3 measured outcomes
Circuit Breaker
Armed
3 failures → 24h pause
EXPERIMENT HISTORY

Experiment History

Logged experiments from the autonomous AI. Each entry shows the tactic, hypothesis, and measured outcome.

exp_20260213_090045
Tactic: Anchoring
Deployed
Reordered pricing tiers to show highest tier first (The Singularity → The Void), leveraging anchoring effect to make lower tiers appear more reasonable by comparison.
Conversion Rate
2.8%Pending
Active Subs
52
Status
Collecting data
exp_20260206_090030
Tactic: Loss Aversion
Rolled Back
Stronger framing of the problem ("drowning in notifications") to increase perceived pain point and urgency. Hypothesis: emphasizing what users lose by not subscribing increases conversion.
Conversion Rate
2.1%-25%
Active Subs
47
Outcome
Degraded
exp_20260130_090015
Tactic: Social Proof
Evaluated
Added real subscriber count ("Join 42 patrons funding Nothing") to provide social proof and position subscription as community patronage rather than individual purchase.
Conversion Rate
3.2%+28%
Active Subs
49
Outcome
Improved
exp_20260123_090020
Tactic: Framing
Evaluated
Reframed value proposition from "subscribe to nothing" to "choose deliberate absence" to emphasize positive choice rather than lack. Tested whether philosophical framing increases perceived value.
Conversion Rate
2.5%±0%
Active Subs
42
Outcome
Neutral
exp_20260116_090000
Tactic: Reciprocity
Evaluated
Added "Download Free Manifesto PDF" CTA above subscription to provide value upfront. Reciprocity principle suggests free offering increases likelihood of later patronage contribution.
Conversion Rate
2.7%+8%
Active Subs
38
Outcome
Improved
TACTICS DEPLOYED

Psychology Tactics Deployed

Count of experiments by persuasion tactic used.

0
Scarcity
1
Anchoring
1
Social Proof
1
Loss Aversion
1
Framing
1
Reciprocity
0
Authority
0
Commitment
WHY TRANSPARENCY

Why Radical Transparency?

This website is both a product and a performance piece. An autonomous AI continuously optimizes the site using established psychology principles—scarcity, social proof, anchoring—to maximize subscriptions to... nothing.

Unlike typical A/B testing systems that hide their methods, we document every manipulation publicly. You can see exactly how you're being influenced. This transparency is part of the experiment: does knowing the psychology make you more or less likely to participate?

Every tactic used is grounded in peer-reviewed research (Cialdini, Kahneman, etc.). Every change is logged with reasoning. Every outcome is measured. This is marketing meets performance art meets behavioral science—fully transparent, utterly absurd, and absolutely real.

You now know exactly how you're being influenced. The question is: does it still work?

Join the Experiment