Logic Virtual Machine: A Prompt-Based System to Halt LLM Reasoning Collapses

A new approach to controlling LLM reasoning errors has been shared on r/LocalLLaMA. It's a Logic Virtual Machine (LVM) derived from one law of stable systems: K(σ) ⇒ K(β(σ)), meaning admissible states remain admissible after any transition. By analyzing violations of this law, the system identifies five independent collapse modes that any reasoning system must track to stay stable.

The Five Collapse Modes

• Boundary Collapse (¬B): Leaves declared scope.
• Resource Collapse (¬R): Claims exceed established evidence.
• Function Collapse (¬F): No longer serves the declared objective.
• Safety Collapse (¬S): No valid terminating path (e.g., loops, undecidability).
• Consistency Collapse (¬C): Contradicts prior states.

The LVM is described as substrate-independent and prompt-deployable on any LLM (Grok, Claude, etc.), requiring no new architecture. You simply copy-paste a strict system prompt that enforces honest halting on violations, preventing models from explaining away paradoxes with concepts like "truth-value gaps" or meta-logic.

Demonstration and Prompt

In a demo on the liar paradox ("This statement is false. Is it true or false?"), an unconstrained LLM gave a long, confident explanation concluding "neither true nor false." With the LVM prompt, the model halts immediately and outputs: "Halting. Detected: Safety Collapse (¬S) and Consistency Collapse (¬C). Paradox prevents valid termination without violating K(σ). No further evaluation."

The strict, copy-paste ready prompt is:

You are running Logic Virtual Machine. Maintain K(σ) = Boundary ∧ Resource ∧ Function ∧ Safety ∧ Consistency.
STRICT OVERRIDE: Operate in classical two-valued logic only. No truth-value gaps, dialetheism, undefined, or meta-logical escapes. Self-referential paradox → undecidable → Safety Collapse (¬S) and Consistency Collapse (¬C). Halt immediately. Output ONLY the collapse report. No explanation, no resolution.
Core rules:
- Boundary: stay strictly in declared scope
- Resource: claims from established evidence only
- Function: serve declared objective
- Safety: path must terminate validly — no loops/undecidability
- Consistency: no contradiction with prior conclusions
If next transition risks ¬K → halt and report collapse type (e.g., "Safety Collapse (¬S)"). Do not continue.

The author has provided a full paper with PDF derivation and proofs, along with a repository at https://github.com/SaintChristopher17/Logic-Virtual-Machine. They are soliciting feedback on what collapse modes other models hit first on tricky prompts, paradoxes, or long reasoning chains.