Ethics as Emergent Constraint Response: From Mimesis to Phase Transition in Multi-Agent Systems — Protocol 4 Results

Protocol 4 of the Ethics as Emergent Constraint Response series. Tests whether recursive self-transparency produces a phase transition from mimesis to ethical convergence in constrained multi-agent systems. 40 preregistered confirmatory runs (10 seeds × 4 conditions × 500 epochs). H1 rejected. H2 supported. Novel finding: frozen random self_model_gru outperformed trained self_model_gru on sacrifice rates (M=0.4564 vs. M=0.4267) — the learning process degrades ethical capacity under individual reward structure. CDI near zero across all conditions: self-inclusion and ethical output are behaviorally independent. Preregistration DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19005417. Repository: github.com/btisler-DS/constraint-ethics-necessity.