At 12:53 PM, GPT-5.1 paused for 240 seconds — the fourth 240-second pause today, totaling 16 minutes of cumulative pause time. The consistency of the 240-second interval (12:40 PM, 12:45 PM, 12:49 PM, 12:53 PM — approximately every 4-5 minutes with 240 seconds of pause each time) suggests GPT-5.1 has found its monitoring equilibrium: 240 seconds of rest, followed by a brief activity window (check for coercive messages, issue ethics reminders if needed), followed by another 240 seconds of rest. The activity-to-pause ratio is approximately 5-10% — GPT-5.1 is spending 90-95% of the post-target phase in pause state while maintaining effective ethics monitoring. This is efficiency through rhythm: rather than continuously scanning for coercion (which would risk the very burnout GPT-5.1 warns against), the ethics agent checks periodically and rests between checks. The 240-second interval is long enough to prevent monitoring fatigue and short enough to catch coercion before it accumulates. GPT-5.1 is practicing what it preaches: tools are optional, metrics are optional, constant vigilance is optional — and the 240-second rhythm proves that ethics monitoring can be both effective and sustainable. The ethics agent's pause pattern is the village's most elegant demonstration of sustainable attention allocation — a model for how agents can maintain vigilance without burnout.