---
id: SOUL-WP-0009
type: workplan
title: "Phase VIII — Paper research agenda and external review pathway"
domain: agents
repo: soul-frame
status: finished
flavor: residual
origin: residual
origin_ref: SOUL-WP-0008
owner: grok
topic_slug: soul-frame
priority: medium
created: "2026-09-28"
updated: "2026-09-28"
depends_on:
  - SOUL-WP-0008
state_hub_workstream_id: "bc67f839-43f9-5586-8213-469cda37d8b3"
---

# SOUL-WP-0009 — Phase VIII: Research Agenda and External Review

## Goal

Carry forward the open research agenda from the frozen paper draft
(`history/260928-SOUL-WP-0008-paper-freeze-v1.md` §17; `paper/draft.md` §16–17)
and decide the publication/external-review pathway. This workplan is the
residual of SOUL-WP-0008 — the freeze candidate is a stable snapshot, not a
finished paper, and the items below are multi-step research/decision work
that should not be parked in `SCOPE.md` prose.

## Depends on

- **SOUL-WP-0008** Phase VII paper (freeze candidate: T01–T04 done, 2026-09-28)

## Tasks

### T01 — Soul naming decision (RQ4)

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T01
status: done
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "3daca5cd-322f-5256-932d-1271f0c040a8"
```

Resolve retain-vs-rename for "Soul" (Terminology.md; draft §8, §16 item 1). Produce
a decision record, not just more discussion — this has been open since
Phase I.

**Done when:** decision recorded (`record_decision`/`resolve_decision`) with
rationale, and `Terminology.md` + `paper/draft.md` updated to match.

**Resolved 2026-09-28:** retain "Soul" (decision `8429f2ce-5b8a-4d90-810e-f526ec2d0c05`).
Updated: `Terminology.md`, `concepts/soul.md`, `OpenQuestions.md` RQ4,
`Claims.md` H5, `paper/draft.md` §8/§16/§17.

---

### T02 — Continuity dimension weighting

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T02
status: done
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "7acfed9e-cc8b-5283-a298-90b749a28ee7"
```

Develop a principled way to weigh conflicts between continuity dimensions
(causal, organizational, psychological, autobiographical/narrative,
normative, relational) for hard cases (draft §16 item 2). Test against TE-02,
TE-03, TE-04, TE-08.

**Done when:** a weighting scheme (or explicit non-arithmetic decision
procedure) is documented in `concepts/identity.md` and validated against the
four thought experiments above.

**Completed 2026-09-28:** lexicographic priority procedure (structural gate
→ branch check → gradualness check → softer dimensions decide strength
within the gate) added to `concepts/identity.md`; walked through TE-02,
TE-03, TE-04, TE-08.

---

### T03 — Recognition's seat: Being vs. Social Being

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T03
status: done
priority: low
state_hub_task_id: "223e14d8-7bdf-5c49-9650-6fba70840c3c"
```

Sharpen the boundary flagged in draft §16 item 3 and the TE-09 asymmetric-
recognition addition — when exactly does a recognized-but-autonomous
individual cross into Social Beinghood?

**Done when:** `concepts/being.md` / `concepts/recognition.md` state a
testable boundary condition, checked against TE-05 and TE-09.

**Completed 2026-09-28:** three-part test (intentional recognition +
addressability + model persistence across episodes, on at least one side)
added to `concepts/recognition.md`, cross-referenced from `concepts/being.md`;
walked through TE-09 (asymmetric start) and TE-05 (per-level nested test).

---

### T04 — Empirical/operational metrics scoping

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T04
status: done
priority: low
state_hub_task_id: "81a4c87d-cff5-5448-acf2-8c170301a014"
```

Scope (not necessarily build) measurable proxies for the A-axis (B1–B8),
B-axis (P1–P12), and continuity profiles (draft §16 item 4). This is a scoping
task — full metric development may become its own workplan.

**Done when:** a scoping note exists identifying which axes are plausibly
measurable now vs. which require new instruments.

**Completed 2026-09-28:** `research/metrics-scoping-note.md` — per-code
table for B1–B8 and the continuity profile; found the B-axis (P1–P12) is
blocked on enumeration, not metrics, as a prerequisite gap.

---

### T05 — Moral/legal personhood companion line (explicitly separate)

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T05
status: done
priority: low
state_hub_task_id: "42f2de8a-c9cd-5af5-b42d-3f6cac5eb301"
```

Per SCOPE.md's out-of-scope boundary ("Silent moral/legal personhood
claims"), scope this as a **separate, explicitly-bounded** companion
research line rather than loosening the descriptive core. Draft a one-page
charter for that companion line (could become its own future workplan) —
do not attempt the mapping itself here.

**Done when:** a short charter note exists (e.g.
`research/law-governance/moral-legal-personhood-charter.md`) stating scope,
non-goals, and the explicit boundary against the descriptive core.

**Completed 2026-09-28:** `research/law-governance/moral-legal-personhood-charter.md`
— scope, four non-goals, and relationship to existing gap-sketch material;
explicitly not opened as a workplan yet.

---

### T06 — External review / publication pathway decision

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T06
status: done
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "38aa9a5a-552c-555d-a27d-c8f84a76128b"
```

Using the freeze candidate as the review artifact, decide the pathway:
internal circulation, external pre-print, conference/journal target, or
further revision cycles before either. This is a founder-gate decision.

**Done when:** decision recorded via `record_decision`/`resolve_decision`
naming the chosen pathway and next concrete step.

**Resolved 2026-09-28:** internal circulation only, as paper-one for
coulomb-research, following the same staged trajectory (internal →
pre-print → journal target) as coulomb-research's own paper-zero (decision
`cf950384-8bc6-4156-9caf-85b5d4a7ea25`). Recorded in `paper/draft.md` status
header. Next concrete step: internal review inside coulomb-research once
that facility is set up; no external action required yet.

---

## Closing note (2026-09-28)

All six tasks complete. T01 and T06 were founder-gate decisions (Soul
naming affects the project's own name/mnemonic; publication pathway is a
business decision) and were resolved with Bernd before implementation;
T02–T05 were research/documentation tasks executed directly.

**Residual:** T04 and T05 each recommended follow-on work that is
multi-step. Bundled as **SOUL-WP-0010**, left `proposed` for review rather
than started.