09 — Grounding, Access, and Multiverse Views
Position in CNS 8.0
Grounding, access states, and multiverse views constrain and explain synthesis. They do not perform the synthesis step.
Evidence atoms
Evidence atoms are immutable spans or data items:
evidence_id
document_id
span_start
span_end
text_hash
source_quality
access_state
timestamp
metadata
They support SNO claims and proof traces.
Record-access states
Access state is not a truth value. It tells the system what kind of evidentiary absence it is dealing with.
Recommended access states:
availableretrievednot_retrievedwithheldsealeddestroyednever_generatednot_collectedunknownsecondary_report_onlycontradictory_record
Access-aware inference
A missing record should not automatically support or refute a claim. Access state affects likelihood, confidence, and collection recommendations.
Example:
if record_access == sealed:
mark claim as unresolved due to access limit
if record_access == never_generated:
do not infer negative evidence
if record_access == destroyed:
increase audit warning and require provenance explanation
Multiverse views
A multiverse view is a ranked set of possible structured states after synthesis constraints.
Each world contains:
- claim truth assignments;
- latent predicates;
- access assumptions;
- proof coverage;
- residual contradiction mass;
- posterior score.
World ranking
CNS may compute:
$$ P(W_i\mid E,A) $$but this is only an uncertainty report. It is not the CNS engine.
Output categories
| Category | Meaning |
|---|---|
| strict | proof trace from evidence under zero-temperature rules |
| likely | posterior-supported but not strict |
| hypothesis | generated for testing |
| unresolved | insufficient proof/access |
| rejected | failed grounding/proof |
Estimative language
When reporting probabilities, CNS should use calibrated language and numeric ranges. Do not hide uncertainty in prose.
Example:
Likely (70–85%): Claim C holds if latent predicate L1 is accepted.
Unresolved: Claim D cannot be promoted because the relevant record is sealed.
Strict: Claim E follows from evidence atoms e12 and e19 under rule r3.
Audit report
The report should expose:
- input SNOs;
- synthesized SNO;
- proof traces;
- evidence spans;
- access states;
- latent predicates;
- rejected claims;
- top worlds;
- confidence calibration;
- residual contradictions.
Anti-pattern
Do not output only:
World 1: 0.72
World 2: 0.18
World 3: 0.10
without a synthesized SNO and proof-bearing narrative structure.