Definition
The assembled machinery that produces a decision with consequences for someone: models, rules engines, queues, humans, policies, and the data they read. Ethotechnics governs the whole system rather than any one component, because the same questions apply whichever part made the call. A deployment is classified by its substrate profile, not by which component is fashionable.
It matters because component-level assurance does not compose. A verified model inside an unaudited decision system still produces decisions no one can reconstruct, which is why assurance is tagged with the evaluation layer it holds at, and why reconstructing a past decision depends on prospective auditability designed into the system.
Tests that show it is in place
- A diagram names every component that can alter a decision, including humans and lookup tables.
- Assurance claims state which component they cover and which they do not.
- Changing any component triggers review of the decision system, not only of that component.
Evidence to keep
- Artifact: A component inventory for one decision path, with the alteration each component can make.
- Behavior: An assurance claim rejected for covering a component rather than the decision system.
- Metric: Share of decision paths with a current component inventory.
References
- Laws for engineering delegated intelligence · Doctrine