Glossary entry

Expansion Decision

Glossary entry in Decision states & edges. Definitions, checks, and evidence for Expansion Decision.

Quick takeaways

A separate authorization decision taken when an existing delegation is widened in scope, population, autonomy, or consequence.

Definition
Minimum evidence
Operational tests

Definition

A separate authorization decision taken when an existing delegation is widened in scope, population, autonomy, or consequence. It carries its own evidence, its own correction capacity check, and its own dependence review, and it is recorded as a transition on the grant.

It matters because expansion is normally treated as the reward for success rather than as a new delegation. Requiring the decision is the direct block on the automation ratchet, and it keeps an authority grant readable against what the system now does.

AgencyTemporal

Scale: Organizational · Phases: Design, Deployment · Measurability: Fully measurable · Maturity: Active research

Scope: J. Decision states & edges. Where and how decisions flip from reversible to permanent.
Genealogy: Turns Law XI into a decision state, so that growth in delegated authority has the same ceremony as its creation.

Adjacent terms

Automation Ratchet Authority Grant Decision Edge Earned Autonomy

References

Expansion taxonomy branch · Taxonomy

Glossary territory

Where and how decisions flip from reversible to permanent.

Explore Decision states & edges in the glossary index.

Entry details

Last updated: 2026-09-18
Term version: v1.4.0
Changelog: View updates

Extended routes

Supplementary links and diagnostics for deeper review.

Operational tests (3)

Widening a delegation cannot be shipped without an expansion record naming its evidence.
The record includes a correction capacity check and a dependence review, not only a risk note.
Expansion transitions are visible in the grant's state history.

Minimum evidence checklist

Artifact: An expansion record with evidence, correction capacity check, and dependence review.
Behavior: An expansion deferred because correction capacity had not grown with the proposed scope.
Metric: Share of scope increases accompanied by an expansion record.
Threshold: Target 100 percent; gaps are reconciled as authority drift.

Copy citation (APA/BibTeX)

Cite this glossary entry Formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS

Version

v1.4.0

Last updated

Sep 18, 2026

Permalink

https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/expansion-decision

DOI

Pending Zenodo deposit

APA

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. (2026). Expansion Decision. Ethotechnics glossary. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/expansion-decision

MLA

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. "Expansion Decision." Ethotechnics glossary, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/expansion-decision.

Chicago

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. "Expansion Decision." Ethotechnics glossary. Sep 18, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/expansion-decision.

BibTeX

@misc{glossary_expansion-decision,
  title={Expansion Decision},
  author={Ethotechnics Institute Research Team},
  year={2026},
  howpublished={Ethotechnics glossary},
  url={https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/expansion-decision},
  version={v1.4.0}
}

RIS

TY  - WEB
TI  - Expansion Decision
AU  - Ethotechnics Institute Research Team
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/expansion-decision
ER  -

Scholarly metadata

Authorship

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team · Ethotechnics Institute · research@ethotechnics.org

Contact: research@ethotechnics.org

Publication details

Published: Dec 3, 2025
Last updated: Sep 18, 2026
Version: v1.4.0
DOI: Pending Zenodo deposit

License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Credit Ethotechnics Institute, include the term title + version, and link to the glossary permalink.

Archive: Wayback Machine history

Changelog

v1.7.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Non-Finality, Consequential Contradiction, and The Excluded Case, and generalized the falsified denominator into the falsified ledger — completing the five concerns and the fallibilist ground they stand on.
v1.6.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Human Non-Substitutability, Safe Incompleteness, Anti-Conversion Rights, Abstention, Constitutional Debt, Discretion Migration, and Corrigibility Rent — the person-side principles, the three abstentions, and the rent concept.
v1.5.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Exception Absorption, Exception Learning, Case Corrigibility, Structural Corrigibility, Institutional Learning, Corrective Debt, and the Workaround Presumption, formalizing the historical turn: reading institutions through their failure trajectories rather than their stated controls.
v1.4.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Residual Complexity, Complexity Displacement, Falsified Denominator, Closure Without Remainder, Constitutional Governance, and Post-Optimization Rigor, embedding the foundational contention of burden redistribution.
v1.3.0 · 2026-09-11 — Added Attestation, Liability Record, Carve-Out, Delegation Chain, Composed Latency, and Silent-Harm Discovery, each bound to the standard clause that requires it.
v1.2.0 · 2026-09-08 — Added The Non-Conversion Principle, Exit Cost, and Jurisdictional Path Dependence, each linked to the theory essay that argues for it.
v1.1.0 · 2026-01-09 — Expanded scholarly metadata, operational tests, and provenance notes.
v1.0.0 · 2025-12-03 — Initial glossary release with stable permalinks.

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Expansion Decision