Theory

Law of Energetic Correction 1. Statement of the Law Law of Energetic Correction Community cognition emerges only in systems where the energetic cost of correction is lower than the energetic cost of error propagation. Formally: \[ E_{\text{correction}} < E_{\text{propagation}} \] Where: \(E_{\text{correction}} = E_{\text{detection}} + E_{\text{reversal}}\) \(E_{\text{detection}}\): the cost to identify an error \(E_{\text{reversal}}\): the cost to undo or neutralize the error \(E_{\text{propagation}}\): the marginal cost incurred as an error persists and compounds through the system “Energy” is a generalized cost measure, including but not limited to time, coordination overhead, cognitive load, political capital, reputational risk, or monetary cost. ...

Formal treatment of constraint preservation, invariant space algebra, and the structural conditions for knowability. This section is in progress. Research Notes These notes document the ongoing work of formalizing the Corpus. They are published as working-out-loud artifacts: intermediate, iterative, and subject to change. First Definition of Knowability (2026-02-19) Initial formalization of knowability as a preserved mapping across time and composition.

This archive is a structured body of work on software architecture as a constraint discipline. The essays are ordered by conceptual dependency, not publication date. Together they describe the structural conditions required for systems to remain knowable over time. The corpus is substrate-independent. It describes structural conditions for system knowability, not failures of any specific reasoning mechanism. For applied essays examining contemporary systems through this lens, see Applied Architecture. Foundations Taxonomy Formal vocabulary used throughout the corpus. Defines constraint, invariant space, enforcement, knowability, translation surfaces, composition, and collapse. Knowability Knowability is the preserved ability of a system to justify its behavior through enforceable constraints across time and composition. Corpus Spine Read in order. ...