Definition
The rule that a fact about a system does not become a fact about its authority on its own. Capability, elapsed time without observed failure, and successful operation are evidence that a grant might be justified; none of them is a grant. Authority changes only through an explicit, recorded state transition, with the motivating fact attached as its basis. Confidence is a further instance: a high posterior about a person is evidence for a decision, never the authorization to act on them.
It matters because the conversions it refuses are the ones institutions make by default: a tool is reachable so it is used, a system has been quiet so it stays, a pilot went well so the rollout is not a decision. Laws I, II, and XI are the instances that matter most for delegated intelligence, and each is enforced by holding capability, evidence, and authority in different objects rather than by a rule of conduct. The authority grant and its state history are where a permitted conversion is written down.
Tests that show it is in place
- Capability records and authority records are held in separate objects, and the first cannot write to the second.
- Every widening or renewal of a grant appears as a recorded transition with a stated basis.
- A capability that is reachable but not granted is refused, and the refusal is checkable by a harness.
Evidence to keep
- Artifact: A grant whose state history shows each expansion and renewal as a transition with a recorded basis.
- Behavior: A reachable capability refused at execution because no grant covers it.
- Metric: Share of grant widenings that occurred as recorded transitions rather than being discovered after the fact.
References
- What does not convert · Theory
- Laws for engineering delegated intelligence · Doctrine