Independent capacity inventory
Skills, resources, organizations, information, alternatives, and time.
Reproductive conditions
Track the independent capacities people need to challenge an arrangement. The institution must not deplete them. The wider order must reproduce them.
- 1 Evidence
- 2 Authority
- 3 Decision
- 4 Consequence acts here
- 5 Challenge
- 6 Reconsideration
- 7 Correction acts here
Where it acts
At Consequence and Correction, two of the seven stages every consequential decision passes through. It records what ordinary operation does to future correction, and separates non-depletion from systemic reproduction.
Steps
Put the mechanism in motion
6 steps, in order. Check each one off as it is done; the records show the work was done.
0 of 6 steps complete
Records this mechanism keeps
What a team running this mechanism keeps, and what each record is for.
Counterfactual capacity assessment
What capabilities and alternatives would have been available under a different arrangement.
Correction window record
The harm horizon, the time to mobilize, and the decision the gap requires.
Architectural contestability record
Inspect, modify, replace, and leave: who can do each, and at what cost.
Transition account
Losses, preserved capacities, alternatives, and who has authority over implementation.
Reuse-ready snippets
Copy policy, audit, and incident language
Use these snippets in requirements, audits, and postmortems with the mechanism permalink.
Policy requirement
Policy requirement (MEC-28 Reproductive conditions) - The institution reports the capacities its ordinary operation depletes or preserves; the wider order's reproduction is reported separately. - A capacity below its preservation floor triggers a recorded governance decision. Reference: https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/reproductive-conditions
Product requirement
Product requirement (MEC-28) - The dependency record carries the independent capacity inventory and the correction window. - Technical infrastructure records inspectability, portability, interoperability, exit cost, and who has collective control.
Audit evidence checklist
Audit evidence checklist (MEC-28) [ ] The independent capacity inventory is current. [ ] Each capacity has a preservation floor and a review trigger. [ ] Irreversible changes record a correction window and transition plan. [ ] Non-depletion and systemic reproduction are reported separately. [ ] Technical infrastructure records inspectability, portability, interoperability, exit cost, and who has collective control.
Postmortem trigger
Postmortem trigger (MEC-28) Trigger review when an independent capacity falls below its floor, when a correction window closes before a challenge can be organized, or when exit costs make replacement impractical.
Example usage
A benefits platform the city cannot leave
One scenario with each part of the mechanism in place.
How it plays out
A city has legal authority to redesign its benefits system and depends on a proprietary platform it cannot inspect or migrate. The record shows the exit cost, requires data portability and an interoperability clause in the next contract, funds technical capacity inside the agency, and stages the migration so recipients are not cut off during the transition.
Anti-patterns
Common failure cases and counterfactuals
Each case passes on paper and fails in operation. The counterfactual shows what would have worked.
Silence as consent
No complaints are read as legitimacy while the institution has consumed the skills, resources, and organizations people would need to complain.
Counterfactual: The capacity inventory is reported beside the complaint volume.
Exception: The absence of opposition is not evidence that opposition is unnecessary.
Forkability as freedom
Exit and forkability are treated as self-government, although privileged groups can leave more easily and some infrastructure cannot be forked without undermining the collective good.
Counterfactual: The record separates exit from credible collective control, and reports who can actually leave.
Exception: A right to fork is not a right to govern.
Transition as delay
An incumbent uses transition protections to preserve its position and postpone a change that has already been justified.
Counterfactual: The transition protects people and capacities, with a dated implementation and a distinction between accommodation and entrenchment.
Exception: A transition plan without a deadline is a stay of execution for the institution.
Diagnostics for this mechanism
Tools that size the risk this mechanism addresses.
Diagnostic
Delegation audit
Walks a team through one workflow against six questions and returns an exposure score, the permissions nobody can justify, and whether its decisions can be undone. Start here when the system keeps no decision records yet; use the record conformance checker once it does.
Cite this page · v1.2.1 · updated Oct 6, 2026 · CC BY-SA 4.0
APA
Ethotechnics Institute. (2026). Reproductive conditions (MEC-28). Ethotechnics Institute. https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/reproductive-conditions
MLA
Ethotechnics Institute. "Reproductive conditions (MEC-28)." Ethotechnics Institute, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/reproductive-conditions.
Chicago
Ethotechnics Institute. "Reproductive conditions (MEC-28)." Ethotechnics Institute. Oct 6, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/reproductive-conditions.
BibTeX
@misc{mechanism_reproductive-conditions,
title={Reproductive conditions (MEC-28)},
author={Ethotechnics Institute},
year={2026},
howpublished={Ethotechnics Institute},
url={https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/reproductive-conditions},
version={v1.2.1}
}
RIS
TY - WEB TI - Reproductive conditions (MEC-28) AU - Ethotechnics Institute PY - 2026 UR - https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/reproductive-conditions ER -