Mind · Strategy

TensionHold

Maintain contradictions without premature resolution

Definition

Mechanism

Cognitive Suspension protocol. When two high-confidence inputs conflict (A ⊥ B), the Agent instantiates a Tension object that binds them together. This blocks downstream decision-making until a reconciling insight (Pattern C) is found via Dialectic or Synthesis, or until the hold timeout expires.

Preconditions

  1. Mutually exclusive valid inputs identified
  2. Resolution threshold not met

Postconditions

  1. Execution flow diverted to Information Retrieval (to break the tie)
  2. Tension object created in Graph

Invariants

  1. No Selection: Output cannot be simply 'A' or 'B' (must be Tension{A,B}).
  2. Persistence: Tension object remains active until explicitly resolved via Synthesis, Falsification, or timeout expiry.

Risks

Failure modes

  1. Premature Convergence

    Agent resolves Tension by arbitrarily discarding one side to reduce cognitive load.

  2. Tension Blindness

    Agent treats a contradiction as a simple error/hallucination and ignores it.

  3. Analysis Paralysis

    Accumulating Tension objects without ever triggering Dialectic resolution.

  4. Timeout Waste

    Hold expires without resolution, forcing fallback when more time would have yielded insight.

Relationships

Builds on

References

Agent

Autonomous Goal-Directed Entity

Dialectic

Internal Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis loop

Yields

Infrastructure

Tension

Reified conflict state

Nothing in this library builds on this pattern yet.

Reference

Parameters

timeout Duration, [5m, 48h]
Maximum hold duration before fallback to Yield, Compromise, or Escalation

Identity

Ref
TensionHold#b220
Sema ID
sema:TensionHold#mh:SHA-256:b220760e24a7814387f787ab1274c6ab6a57f0ba3e9844d9f8b0fb234d14a934
Ring
2
Tier
2
Updated
2026-11-11
Supersedes
  • sema:TensionHold#mh:SHA-256:cca2fab0c52b37549212e931c3bdf4b01b3dcaa8f95101d3ad4e7055cdab3ff0
  • sema:TensionHold#mh:SHA-256:b084d63bf87e2b0ed75f9e27f7a3271fd30707373faa297dbdbb778b497d032e
  • sema:TensionHold#mh:SHA-256:ee6ff4d56abe608f928e89556e344a901b59a24afd511db625aaccb001105017
  • sema:TensionHold#mh:SHA-256:9fb9a1e99253fed3c57921cf020b9868adfb26e15103e5417d78e9aa8e6d0419