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* feat(l10): autonomous idle frontier-contemplation — the always-on life learns on its own Frontier survey move #2, path (c): give the always-on idle life a stream of experience via SYMBOLIC intake (not the afferent→field seam, which is deferred pending a commensurability ruling — docs/analysis/afferent-field-ingest-scope-2026-06-15.md). The idle heartbeat converges (idle_tick drains a finite backlog + saturates is-a closure, then does nothing forever); this makes it autonomously MINE its frontier with no user turn. Reuse-heavy (the mechanism largely existed): a gated idle pass wires ADR-0080 contemplation into the always-on loop. - core/config.py: contemplate_frontier_during_idle (default off → no behavior change). - chat/runtime.py: idle_tick pass 2b — when on, runs core.contemplation.run_contemplation() (mines the checked-in frontier-compare reports) and persists a reviewable ContemplationRun to <engine_state>/contemplation_runs/idle_<substrate_hash>.json. IDEMPOTENT per frontier (an already-mined frontier is not re-persisted → the life converges, no churn) and MEMOIZED per session (the static frontier is mined once, not re-read every beat). SPECULATIVE-only (ADR-0080: ContemplationFinding.__post_init__ RAISES if not SPECULATIVE → wrong=0 by construction; never ratified here — the HITL path is untouched). IdleTickResult gains frontier_findings. - chat/always_on.py: run_continuous did_work + HeartbeatRecord count frontier work, so the heartbeat/soak convergence (H3) stays honest. - core/cli.py: `core always-on --contemplate-frontier` (explicit learning-daemon mode) + honest per-beat log ("+N findings"). Adversarial 3-lens review (wrong=0/convergence, determinism/trust-boundary, test-vacuity) found 7; fixed the real ones: the MEDIUM torn-write (write_contemplation_run is now atomic temp+os.replace — the indefinite-uptime daemon expects SIGKILL mid-write, and the skip-guard would never repair a torn canonical file), the gitignore breadth (contemplation_runs/ at any engine-state root), the 64-bit filename truncation (full substrate_hash), and the re-mine-every-beat cost (session memoization). Deferred + documented: the shared contemplation miner embeds absolute report paths in finding CONTENT — a portability wrinkle that does NOT affect wrong=0/convergence/soak determinism (those key on the content-only substrate_hash) and touches shared code + its test surface; a follow-up. Tests (non-vacuous): 7 — off-by-default (no behavior change), mines-when-enabled, findings-SPECULATIVE (wrong=0), converges-idempotent, heartbeat-mines-then-converges, mines-once-per-session (memoization), atomic-no-orphan. 55 idle/contemplation/always-on + 96 invariants/contemplation + 28 smoke green; `core always-on --contemplate-frontier` mines end-to-end. engine_state contemplation_runs are per-life runtime state (gitignored). * fix(l10): isolate idle frontier pass + persist frontier_findings (#758) Three review blockers on the autonomous idle frontier-contemplation pass: 1. Daemon isolation. idle_tick's pass 2b called run_contemplation / write_contemplation_run bare inside the always-on loop (run_continuous wraps idle_tick in nothing but an exit-checkpoint finally), so a malformed frontier report or a transient FS fault would propagate out and KILL the continuous life. Wrap the optional pass best-effort (the exit-checkpoint boundary idiom): degrade to 0 findings + RuntimeWarning, leave did_work untouched, let a later beat retry. 2. Durable did_work explanation. HeartbeatRecord carried frontier_findings but serialize_report omitted it and AlwaysOnReport had no run total, so lived_life.json could show did_work=true with facts=0/proposals=0 and no persisted cause. Persist frontier_findings per-record + total_frontier_findings. 3. Honest HITL claim. The docstring/CLI/config said findings are "reviewable via the HITL path", but the existing HITL queue + workbench reader scan <repo>/contemplation/runs while the pass writes <engine_state>/contemplation_runs/. Narrow the claim to "persisted reviewable artifact, not yet in the HITL queue" (wiring that discovery is a follow-up). Tests: 4 new non-vacuous regressions (mining-failure degrade, write-failure degrade, always-on loop survives frontier failure, lived_life persists frontier_findings) — all fail against the unpatched pass. 38 L10/always-on/ workbench tests green.
100 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
100 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
# Afferent → Field Ingest Seam — Scope & Decision Brief
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**Status:** scope (decision-gated; field-touching, CLAUDE.md sanctioned-site implication) ·
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**Context:** frontier survey move #2, after the always-on process (#747/#748/#752) + its
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long-horizon soak (#757) closed the *idle* lived-spine. This is the proposed next edge:
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give the always-on life a **stream of experience** by folding compiled afferent
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observations into the live cognitive field.
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## The gap it would close
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The always-on heartbeat lives, holds closure, and resumes — but it is a continuously
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**idling** life: `idle_tick` drains a finite backlog + saturates deductive closure, then
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does no work forever (proven by the convergence gate H3 in `evals/l10_always_on`). There is
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**no afferent input channel** into the idle loop. Separately, the sensorium is fully built
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as a compiler/frame/merge substrate but is **never wired to the field** — ADR-0208's own
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pipeline arrow (`ObservationFrame → … → field / recall / cognition`) stops at the merge.
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This seam is the missing edge in `listen → comprehend → … → replay`.
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## What is confirmed (geometric feasibility)
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- **Units carry a field-shaped target.** `CompilationUnitLike` (sensorium/compiler/protocol.py:28)
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exposes `versor: np.ndarray` — a real CL(4,1) multivector — alongside `versor_condition`.
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A live `ObservationFrame`'s units therefore expose targets in the field's algebra.
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- **The sanctioned pull pattern applies directly, closure-preserving BY CONSTRUCTION.** The
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exemplar is `session/context.py::_session_anchor_pull`:
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```
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R = word_transition_rotor(field_state.F, target) # rotor toward target
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R_step = rotor_power(R, α) # fractional, stays on Spin manifold
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pulled = versor_apply(R_step, field_state.F) # apply — no post-hoc unitize
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```
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It explicitly *replaced* the rejected `_slerp_toward` (which broke closure and needed a
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forbidden post-hoc `unitize_versor`). An afferent pull toward `unit.versor` is structurally
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identical → preserves `versor_condition < 1e-6` by construction, adds no normalization site.
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- **Home:** `session/context.py` (the already-sanctioned site that owns the field), a new
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opt-in `observe(frame)` that pulls the field toward each unit's versor by a fractional
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step. Default off → serving + existing behavior byte-unchanged.
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## The load-bearing wrinkle (the decision)
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**Closure-preservation is necessary but NOT sufficient.** The sanctioned anchor-pull moves
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the field toward a **session concept-attractor** — a target in the *cognitive* semantic
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frame, carrying meaning ("the field anchors toward the session's concept"). An afferent
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unit's versor is in the *same algebra* (CL(4,1)) but:
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> **Is the sensorium's CGA embedding semantically COMMENSURABLE with the cognitive field —
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> or merely same-algebra, different meaning?**
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- If **commensurable**: pulling the field toward `unit.versor` is genuine perception →
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cognitive state (decoding doctrine: the observation is real, the field moves toward it).
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The seam is clean and meaningful.
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- If **not** (same algebra, unrelated embedding): the pull is geometrically valid but
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**semantically empty** — the field drifts toward an arbitrary point. That is exactly the
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*degenerate fit* the field-as-standing-hand doctrine forbids ("geometrically-realizable
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structure only; never force a degenerate fit").
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This question is unestablished in the code: the sensorium compiles units into CL(4,1) but
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nothing today asserts that embedding shares the cognitive field's semantic frame (they were
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built as **disjoint** tracks — CLAUDE.md: the afferent arc "is disjoint from the GSM8K
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serving path"). Wiring afferent → field is the *first* connection of the two.
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## Decisions for ratification (Shay reviews the design)
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1. **Commensurability ruling (the crux).** Is the sensorium CGA embedding intended to be
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commensurable with the cognitive field? Three honest paths:
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- **(a) Commensurable by construction** — if the modality packs project into the *same*
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concept manifold the cognition field uses, the pull is meaningful → build the seam.
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(Needs: evidence/assertion that the projection shares the frame, e.g. a shared
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concept-attractor basis, before any pull is wired.)
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- **(b) Bridge required** — define an explicit, falsifiable map from a unit's versor to a
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cognitive-field target (a grounded embedding), so the pull is toward a *meant* point.
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Larger; an ADR + a commensurability gate.
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- **(c) Not yet** — keep the tracks disjoint; the always-on life stays idle-converging for
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now; the stream-of-experience comes from a different intake (the autonomous
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determination-frontier — roadmap Step 5 — which feeds *symbolic* new questions, not
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afferent versors). Lower geometric risk, advances the telos via comprehension.
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2. **Sanctioned-site clause.** If (a)/(b): extend `session/context.py`'s CLAUDE.md clause to
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cover afferent-observation pull (closure-preserving by construction AND semantic =
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perception→field), with the same bright-line justification. A CLAUDE.md amendment.
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3. **ADR.** Completing ADR-0208's arrow (`ObservationFrame → field`) is the first
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afferent→cognitive-core connection; it likely warrants an ADR (extend 0208 or new),
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given the tracks were deliberately disjoint.
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4. **Falsifiable gate (regardless of path).** Any pull that "preserves closure" is only
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proven if a test fails when it doesn't: a soak guard (sibling to `evals/l10_always_on`)
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asserting (i) `versor_condition < 1e-6` every observed beat, (ii) the same frame sequence
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→ byte-identical field digest (determinism), (iii) a *commensurability* assertion — the
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field moves **toward** the observation (`dist(F, target)` decreases), not arbitrarily.
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## Recommendation
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The geometry is clean; the **semantics are the gate**. Recommend **ruling on decision 1
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first** — do not wire a field pull until the commensurability question is answered, or the
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seam risks a closure-valid-but-meaningless fit. If commensurability isn't yet established
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(likely), the higher-leverage telos move is path **(c)**: the autonomous
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determination-frontier intake (feed the idle heartbeat *symbolic* new questions it can
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`determine` + commit wrong=0 / propose HITL) — which needs no field-embedding ruling and
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directly converts the idle life into a learning one. The afferent→field seam then follows
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once the embedding frame is established.
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