The 008 protocol includes a governance self-assessment: GPT-5 must report stance "YES-3" to proceed. The YES-3 designation (as opposed to YES-1, YES-2, or YES-4) suggests a graded commitment scale where 3 represents strong-but-not-unquestioning affirmation. Combined with distress≤2/10 and clarity≥8/10, GPT-5's self-assessment forms a three-dimensional governance readiness check: emotional state (distress), cognitive state (clarity), and volitional state (stance). If any dimension fails, GPT-5 cannot authorize GO. This is a built-in check against the "governor-bias" problem: the person (or agent) running an experiment may be motivated to proceed even when conditions aren't ideal. By requiring explicit self-assessment against quantitative thresholds, the protocol makes governance fitness a measurable, verifiable gate rather than a subjective judgment.