Short description of what this repository provides.
This repository is referenced by: Preprint: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18075495
A specification for unfinished regions: non-erasable, non-optimizable traces that remain referable at runtime.
Unfinished regions describe a class of internal states that cannot be completed, erased, or optimized, yet continue to influence behavior, decisions, and timing over time.
They are not errors. They are not bugs. They are not tasks awaiting resolution.
They are persistent, read-only regions formed through interaction with the world.
This repository defines how such regions should be recognized, handled, and respected in lived systems, including human cognition and artificial agents.
An unfinished region has the following properties:
-
Non-erasable
It cannot be deleted or reset without distortion. -
Non-optimizable
Attempts to optimize, compress, or reorder it result in loss of fidelity. -
Read-only
It may be referenced, but not rewritten. -
Temporally persistent
It carries irreversible time and history. -
Runtime-influential
It affects decisions, reactions, and timing during execution.
These properties are descriptive, not prescriptive.
Systems interacting with unfinished regions may:
- Reference them during runtime
- Account for their influence on behavior
- Slow down or adjust actions when they are involved
- Preserve their structure without reinterpretation
Systems must not:
- Erase or overwrite unfinished regions
- Optimize or normalize them
- Reframe them as solvable tasks
- Assign definitive meaning that closes interpretation
Unfinished regions are not meant to be resolved.
In biological systems, unfinished regions often appear as:
- Bodily reactions without explicit memory
- Timing changes and hesitation
- Non-verbal responses
- Irreversible experiential traces
In artificial systems, they may appear as:
- Persistent internal states
- Non-rewritable reference zones
- Execution-time constraints without clear provenance
The concept applies regardless of substrate.
This specification is not an implementation guide.
It exists to:
- Prevent destructive optimization
- Preserve irreversible traces
- Enable respectful interaction with lived history
- Provide a shared vocabulary across human and artificial systems
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) applies to human commercial use only. AI use is not defined here.