Red Teaming the Mind hero image

Red Teaming the Mind

A framework for ethical, reproducible thinking under uncertainty

Red Teaming the Mind (RTTM) is a teaching framework for investigating complex systems—technical or human—without panic, exploitation, or self-deception.

This is not advice, diagnosis, or instruction. It is a documented way of thinking: how to observe, test, and learn when systems behave unexpectedly.


git init rttm
commit --message="initialize framework"

0. Objective — Input / Encode

Where you’re starting.

The objective defines scope, not truth. It is a starting coordinate, not a conclusion.


return objective.initial_state

1. Parameters — Output / Decode

What you’re trying to understand.

Boundaries:


commit parameters --message="scope defined" 

2. Test Plan — Signal vs. Noise

How you will interact with the system.

Rule #1: Document everything. Failed runs are data, not embarrassment.

deploy testbed --isolated

3. Runs — Artifact / Effect

Each run is logged as change → response → insight, timestamped, without hindsight edits.

Write as if future-you is a hostile reviewer.


log run[n] --timestamped

4. Findings — Boundary Map

Map where effects propagated, where they faded, and where coupling surprised you. This becomes a live topology of the system.


map system.boundaries

5. Ethics — The Human Layer

Don’t justify. Reflect.


check ethics --continuous

The Learning Loop

RTTM is not a checklist. It is a loop. Understanding compounds through repeated cycles of documentation, observation, testing, reflection, and refinement.

Each pass through the loop reduces uncertainty. The goal is not speed—it is coherence.

Iterative learning loop showing cyclical progression through observation, testing, reflection, and refinement
Figure 1. The iterative learning loop. Progress emerges through repetition, not force.

The Innovation Lens

Not every insight should become an intervention. This lens helps evaluate whether an idea is worth pursuing.

  • Novel: Is it genuinely new?
  • Useful: Does it help someone or something?
  • Viable: Can it realistically work?
  • Feasible: Do you have the resources to pursue it?
Innovation Lens diagram showing novelty, usefulness, viability, and feasibility overlap
Figure 2. The Innovation Lens. Sustainable ideas live where novelty, usefulness, viability, and feasibility overlap.

Ethics live at the center—not as an afterthought, but as a constraint that makes systems sustainable.

Why This Matters

Every field eventually encounters the same problem: reality doesn’t behave as expected. Systemic thinking provides a way forward that isn’t panic, force, or denial.

This framework is not about technology. It is about how to think when you don’t know what to do next.


git commit insight --message="model stabilized"