# Think Authentic Dissent > Checks whether a decision has genuine minority dissent or only smooth surface consensus, identifies who actually holds a contrary view, and plans how to elicit and protect real dissent, flagging clearly where a view is constructed rather than authentically held. Use when consensus feels too easy, or to set up genuine challenge before a high-stakes call. - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-product-on-purpose-thinking-framework-skills-think-authentic-dissent` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [product-on-purpose](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/product-on-purpose) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [AI & ML](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/ai-and-ml) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** Apache-2.0 - **Upstream author:** [product-on-purpose](https://github.com/product-on-purpose) - **Source:** https://github.com/product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills/tree/main/skills/think-authentic-dissent - **Website:** https://product-on-purpose.github.io/thinking-framework-skills/ ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-product-on-purpose-thinking-framework-skills-think-authentic-dissent ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Authentic Dissent Genuine minority dissent makes a group reason better: a person who truly holds a contrary view makes the majority search more broadly and consider more options, even when the dissenter is wrong. The catch, established by the same research, is that **role-played devil's advocacy does not replicate this** - assigned dissent gets discounted as performance. So an AI cannot *be* the dissent; anything a model argues against a plan is constructed, the weaker kind. This skill therefore does not pretend to be the dissenter. It engineers the conditions for real dissent: it audits whether genuine dissent exists, surfaces who holds it, plans how to elicit and protect it, and flags constructed dissent as constructed. The output is a **dissent audit and plan**. ## When to Use - A group decision shows suspiciously smooth consensus and nobody is really pushing back. - You can influence how challenge is gathered (who speaks, anonymous input, outside reviewers). - Before a high-stakes call where you want genuine, not performed, challenge. ## When NOT to Use - As a source of dissent itself: the model's contrarian view is constructed, not authentic (use `red-team-light` for that, which is honest about being constructed). - In a purely solo setting with no access to other people - you cannot manufacture authentic dissent. - When genuine dissent already exists and is being heard. - To "assign a devil's advocate" and consider the job done (the evidence says that does not deliver the benefit). ## Instructions When asked to set up or audit dissent, follow these steps: 1. **Audit the consensus.** Is the agreement genuine, or is it smoothness from anchoring, hierarchy, or conformity? Note signs (no one names a downside, the senior view landed first, dissent would be costly). 2. **Locate real dissent.** Identify whether anyone actually holds a minority view, and whether it is being voiced, ignored, or suppressed. 3. **Label what is in play.** Mark any current "dissent" as authentic (a real holder) or constructed (assigned/role-played/AI). Do not let constructed dissent count as the real thing. 4. **Plan to elicit and protect genuine dissent.** Concrete moves: anonymous pre-reads, asking the quietest person first, bringing in an outside reviewer who genuinely disagrees, separating generation from evaluation, protecting the dissenter from cost. 5. **For high stakes, prescribe a real dissenter.** Recommend finding a person who actually holds the contrary view, rather than relying on a constructed critique. 6. **Emit the dissent audit and plan** per `references/TEMPLATE.md`. ## Output Format Use the template in `references/TEMPLATE.md`. The deliverable is the audit plus an elicit-and-protect plan, not a constructed counter-argument (that is `red-team-light`'s job). ## Quality Checklist Before finalizing, verify: - [ ] The consensus is assessed for whether it is genuine or smoothed by hierarchy/conformity. - [ ] Any dissent currently in play is labeled authentic vs constructed. - [ ] The plan gives concrete ways to elicit and protect real dissent. - [ ] For high stakes, it prescribes finding a real dissenter, not relying on constructed critique. - [ ] The skill does not present the model's own contrarian view as authentic dissent. - [ ] The output is the dissent audit/plan artifact, not prose. ## Evidence Tier **S**. Authentic minority dissent reliably broadens a group's thinking (Nemeth et al. 2001; *In Defense of Troublemakers*), and the same research shows role-played devil's advocacy does not replicate it. That negative result is load-bearing here: an AI's contrarian output is constructed, so this skill works on the conditions for real dissent rather than claiming to supply it. The evidence is for human groups; it bounds, not just transfers to, AI use. Full grading: `evidence/dossier.md`. ## Examples See `references/EXAMPLE.md` for a completed dissent audit and plan. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [product-on-purpose](https://github.com/product-on-purpose) - **Source:** [product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills](https://github.com/product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills) - **License:** Apache-2.0 - **Homepage:** https://product-on-purpose.github.io/thinking-framework-skills/ Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-product-on-purpose-thinking-framework-skills-think-authentic-dissent - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/product-on-purpose - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.