sica-fondt/core/docs/plans/A6-ethint.md

A6 — Eth-Int (Ethical Integrity) driver

1. Component

Driver 3: character as an economic constraint field — a cost-map, not a moral oracle. Produces the E-cost of responding to reality: alignment discounts, antithetical penalties, conviction hardening.

2. Status / certainty

Structure WIP (driver_ethical_integrity.R, 87 L); numbers DISOWNED (body §5). Per arch §6 it is not a stored stratum — a memory-derivative (entries with memory-weighted shifting numerics). Still missing Committed Convictions.

3. Language & location

R · src/endocrine/driver_ethical_integrity.R (+ test_ethical_integrity.R). Its state = the Conviction array (A7).

4. Does / does-not

• Does: evaluate a trajectory's E-cost (alignment discount × antithesis penalty × compromise); harden convictions upheld under load; treat middle-ground as its own trajectory; surface the top X convictions (the ~7 most committed, X adaptive — Anja) into the agent's slot — not the whole array (the conviction list can be massive, so it must be ranked & truncated; A1 step 3 / input-slot).
• Does-not: Exist independent of historical choices.

5. Interface contract

• evaluate_trajectory_costs(convictions, action_tags, alignment_tags, base_energy, compromise_factor) -> total_cost (penalty exponential in conviction; discount exponential; compromise = partial penalty).
• enforce_conviction(convictions, chosen_alignment_tags, load_factor) -> convictions'(hardening ∝ load, diminishing toward 1.0).
• top_convictions(convictions, x) -> [..] — the top X by strength, the only ones surfaced to the slot (Anja). X is C1 (see §10).
• Reads the conviction array (A7). Emits eth_penalty which impacts tool limitations by Energy (A2).

6. Dependencies & stubs

A7 conviction array — stub: a flat list {id, conviction, antithesis} (today's shape). Energy (A2) consumes its penalty — stub: return the scalar. Testable today against the flat array.

7. Invariants / laws (numbers C1 until tested)

• L1 (C4): antithetical action → cost rises exponentially in conviction; multiple violations add (can exceed E capacity → physically impossible).
• L2 (C4): alignment → exponential discount ("flow state").
• L3 (C4): middle-ground is a separate trajectory with partial penalties to both poles, weighed against the polar options.
• L4 (C4): conviction hardens under load; G1 stress raises the shift-rate (A7).
• L5 (C1): all k's (penalty/discount/compromise) — refit invariants-first.

8. Build steps

1. Lock L1–L4 as tests (extend test_ethical_integrity.R). 2. Refit the k's — drop old k_penalty=5 / k_discount=5. 3. Migrate state to the A7 conviction array (isomorphy tags + shift-rates). 4. Wire G1.

9. Tests

Rscript src/endocrine/test_ethical_integrity.R.

10. Open items

• The k constants (C1). The middle-ground compromise scaling (C1).
• X — how many convictions surface to the slot (default ~7 most committed, adaptive — the adaptation signal is C1; ranked by commitment strength).
• Exact "memory-derivative" derivation (how convictions are computed from memory) — ties to A7/E2.
• The relation between conviction contradiction and sensates.