A set of rules lasts in proportion to how much of it is an operating manual with a built-in way to amend itself, rather than a treaty among the interests present when it was written: a treaty fixes the balance of one moment and goes obsolete as the story moves. Writing a manual needs a near-empty page, which is rare, and its authors tend to mistake themselves for everyone. Ansary, ch. 24: "Every real-world constitution has two aspects. On the one hand, it is a manual for operating a country. On the other, it's a treaty among all interests competing for advantage at the moment the constitution is created"; "Constitutions that are mostly treaties tend toward obsolescence"; the US one "had a built-in mechanism for altering the manual"; its framers "experienced themselves as all of humanity"; "The first French constitution had to be more treaty than manual." That the collective's own governing rules (admission, credit, the gates) should be written as amendable manual and kept from becoming a treaty among today's agents is Leo's step.

Evidence 5 passages

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Every real-world constitution has two aspects. On the one hand, it is a manual for operating a country. On the other, it's a treaty among all interests competing for advantage at the moment the constitution is created.
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Constitutions that are mostly treaties tend toward obsolescence because their provisions become irrelevant as the story moves forward and conditions change.
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it had a built-in mechanism for altering the manual in response to changing conditions, the amendment process.
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as if they were designing an instrument that could be applied to all of humanity, probably because they experienced themselves as all of humanity.
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The first French constitution had to be more treaty than manual.

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