@errante it's true that if you tell a guy to "not destroy the sun with your mind", any time you see him, you'll see a man technically compliant with your demand. While sleeping, while eating, while asking you if you're high, he will not be destroying the sun with his mind. But he is also not considering your demand at all. He is simply incapable of what you are forbidding.

To make someone consider your demand is a more interesting distinction, and it's one that can be done positively or negatively. You can positively demand the exact action, or you make so many negative demands that every action actually taken must consider them. "Don't breathe while taking a step" is a demand lacking action, but as soon as the guy wants to walk anywhere he has to either consider the demand or violate it--and as normal behavior would violate it, it's very easy to see if the guy is complying.

Positive demands also don't necessary force the action. For example, if you tell a guy to "treat everyone equally" and then watch him immediately engage in racial discrimination, he can argue that he was going to do that and just hadn't gotten around to it yet. If you tell a guy to bake a cake and he immediately walks to a bathroom, he's not necessarily ignoring you, right? Meanwhile a negative demand like "don't finish the day without presenting me with a cake that you baked" can't be evaded past the day. So I think negative/positive is not as interesting as it may initially seem.