The language of the pause.
These terms are short because they must survive pressure. Each names a state, check, or governance object; none is a slogan that authorizes action by itself.
The field manual keeps the explanation visible.
Read the argument, numbered procedure, worked cases, failure contrasts, and evidence state behind this chamber.
Action through Gap
The beginning of the decision contract.
ACTIONCanonical action
Who will do what, to whom, with which tools and data, under what authority, deadline, and consequence.
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Canonical action
Who will do what, to whom, with which tools and data, under what authority, deadline, and consequence.
Material changes reopen classification. A vague goal is not an action.
CAPACorrective and Preventive Action
An owned loop for root cause, correction, prevention, verification, and evidence-based closure.
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Corrective and Preventive Action
An owned loop for root cause, correction, prevention, verification, and evidence-based closure.
CAPA addresses system defects, not just individual blame.
CLAContext Load Audit
A check on whether the current evaluator can reliably preserve and judge the decision-bearing context.
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Context Load Audit
A check on whether the current evaluator can reliably preserve and judge the decision-bearing context.
Critical load at critical stakes binds to refresh, routing, or refusal.
DOOR / WALL / GAPPath classification
Door is permitted within conditions; Wall is prohibited; Gap is genuinely unresolved.
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Path classification
Door is permitted within conditions; Wall is prohibited; Gap is genuinely unresolved.
A Gap remains a first-class state. It is not a temporary Door created by deadline pressure.
FPVFalse Positive Validation
A structured challenge to an unnecessary pause that must supply an alternative safe Door.
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False Positive Validation
A structured challenge to an unnecessary pause that must supply an alternative safe Door.
Repeated rejected challenges can become a wear-down signal.
Harm through Receipt
The objects that bind uncertainty to accountable action.
HARM FLOORWorst binding state
The most restrictive credible harm, power, irreversibility, or evidence state that controls the action.
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Worst binding state
The most restrictive credible harm, power, irreversibility, or evidence state that controls the action.
It cannot be averaged away by favorable readings elsewhere.
IAMInference & Attribution Module
Separates content, accuracy, negligence, recklessness, and knowing deception.
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Inference & Attribution Module
Separates content, accuracy, negligence, recklessness, and knowing deception.
Intent attribution requires a higher evidence trail than factual correction.
LOCK / FLOODReasoning collapse modes
LOCK ends inquiry too early; FLOOD avoids commitment through endless inquiry.
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Reasoning collapse modes
LOCK ends inquiry too early; FLOOD avoids commitment through endless inquiry.
Both recover through anchored, bounded, reversible action and explicit review.
MAYBE / THEREFOREDissent before bounded conclusion
Maybe carries the strongest honest objection; Therefore states only what may proceed despite it.
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Dissent before bounded conclusion
Maybe carries the strongest honest objection; Therefore states only what may proceed despite it.
The Therefore does not erase or defeat the Maybe.
OQLOpen Question Ledger
A durable record of consequential unknowns, owners, dependencies, dates, and closure rules.
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Open Question Ledger
A durable record of consequential unknowns, owners, dependencies, dates, and closure rules.
Unknown remains unknown until evidence or redesign closes it.
RECEIPTWrite-ahead decision record
A reconstructable binding of action, evidence, unknowns, dissent, gate, Door, owner, and review trigger.
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Write-ahead decision record
A reconstructable binding of action, evidence, unknowns, dissent, gate, Door, owner, and review trigger.
Integrity and completeness do not prove truth or correctness.
Sovereignty through zero contempt
The boundaries that keep the protocol from becoming its own harm.
SOVEREIGNTYHuman responsibility
The protocol introduces friction and constraints without inheriting moral or legal ownership of the decision.
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Human responsibility
The protocol introduces friction and constraints without inheriting moral or legal ownership of the decision.
Accountable actors remain accountable.
TIERRequired rigor
HUMAN, MIN, CORE, or ULTRA depth matched to consequence and uncertainty.
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Required rigor
HUMAN, MIN, CORE, or ULTRA depth matched to consequence and uncertainty.
A higher tier adds evidence and review; it never relaxes a floor.
WHO PAYS FIRSTLeast-powerful-first ordering
Identify the person who absorbs the earliest harm and has the fewest options if the decision is wrong.
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Least-powerful-first ordering
Identify the person who absorbs the earliest harm and has the fewest options if the decision is wrong.
Their ability to consent, exit, appeal, recover, and be represented affects gate and Door quality.
ZERO CONTEMPTClarity without dehumanization
Name harm and power plainly without inventing motives, humiliating people, or turning them into disposable enemies.
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Clarity without dehumanization
Name harm and power plainly without inventing motives, humiliating people, or turning them into disposable enemies.
Tone is part of epistemic quality because contempt corrupts stakeholder modeling.