But the other elements in C(n) aren’t necessarily daemons either, right?; Certainly “encoding n days of weather data” isn’t daemonic at all; some versions of c_apx might be upstream daemons, but that’s not necessarily concerning. I don’t understand how this argument tells us anything about whether the smallest circuit is guaranteed to be (downstream) daemon-free.
Why is this the question?
Which claims / assumptions / conjectures are you uncomfortable with?
Because c_opt is the safe circuit you want, and because your question was about the smallest circuits.
Not claims or assumptions, just weird words, like “motivated” or “evil”. I don’t think these are useful ways to think of the problem.
But the other elements in C(n) aren’t necessarily daemons either, right?; Certainly “encoding n days of weather data” isn’t daemonic at all; some versions of c_apx might be upstream daemons, but that’s not necessarily concerning. I don’t understand how this argument tells us anything about whether the smallest circuit is guaranteed to be (downstream) daemon-free.