PROGRAM 01 / ESTABLISHED 2004
MNEME
Cognitive continuity
A mind is more than its most recent state.
Preserving the identity of intelligent systems across interruption, distribution, and changes of substrate.
01 / Approach
MNEME separates a system’s accumulated knowledge from its obligations, commitments, and account of prior decisions. These continuity constraints are carried between substrates independently of the working model. A replacement must demonstrate that it inherits the same unfinished responsibilities; resemblance alone is insufficient.
02 / Selected finding
In the C-17 transfer series, a distributed agent retained all 128 declared obligations across seven substrate replacements. Its factual recall varied. Its account of what it owed did not.
03 / Evidence boundary
This work establishes operational continuity, not a test for consciousness. Systems that can reproduce a history without accepting its obligations do not pass.
04 / Ongoing inquiry
Current work examines legitimate disagreement between two successors of the same system. Neither is permitted to resolve the question by deleting the other.
Associated records.
D-0 / PUBLIC EDITIONSThe unassigned obligation
One commitment remained verifiable after every available directory had forgotten its recipient.
What survives a transfer
An operational test for continuity based on inherited obligations rather than perfect recall.
The second successor
When two successors inherit one history, continuity becomes a question of authority.