Infrastructure · Data Structures
Assumption
Provisional truth
Definition
Mechanism
A gap-filler used when Datum is missing; treated as true temporarily to allow thinking to proceed. Must be tracked and validated.
Invariants
- Provisionality: must be explicitly flagged as unverified.
- Tracking: must name what it stands in for — a missing Datum, or a judgment not made.
- Discharge: must carry a validation deadline or an invalidation trigger.
Risks
Failure modes
Calcified
depended on far downstream from where it was made, with nothing prompting a re-check.
Mutually inconsistent set
two assumptions each close a local gap and contradict each other in the same chain.
Judgment recorded as datum-gap
the premise replaces a decision nobody made rather than a fact nobody has, so validating it has no target.
Relationships
Builds on
References
Raw unit of fact
Used by
References
Mind
A conclusion inherits the verification assurance of its weakest load-bearing premise.
Mind
Axiomatic reconstruction of truth
Mind
Record what a skipped stage would have provided, and repay it or carry it explicitly into work that depends on it
Mind
A judgment kept after its reasons are lost is held as an assumption until the reasons are restored
Reference
Data schema
{
"type": "object",
"required": [
"premise",
"risk_level",
"criticality"
],
"properties": {
"premise": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The statement treated as temporarily true"
},
"risk_level": {
"type": "number",
"minimum": 0,
"maximum": 1,
"description": "Probability of falsity"
},
"criticality": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"Low",
"Medium",
"Existential"
],
"description": "Impact if assumption fails"
},
"validation_deadline": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time"
}
}
}