soul-frame/OpenQuestions.md

Open Questions Register

Questions that remain unresolved or contested. Link related entries in Claims.md, ThoughtExperiments.md, and concepts/ where helpful.

Phase I update: 2026-08-12 — several RQs refined; detail OQs from RN-005/006 indexed below.

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RQ1 — What constitutes a Being?

Phase I status: refined, not closed.

Working answer: multi-layer profile (autonomous individuality + personhood + addressability + recognition). Still open:

• Weighting and thresholds of B1–B8
• Observer-relative individuation without arbitrariness
• Nested levels (colony, collective, multi-Body)

RQ2 — What constitutes personhood?

Phase III status: working answer — multidimensional descriptive profile P1–P12; four kinds (descriptive/social/moral/legal); default = descriptive. Remaining:

• Weighting / sufficiency thresholds for Beinghood v0.2
• Moral and legal maps (explicitly deferred)
• Measurement methods for artificial systems

RQ3 — What constitutes a Mind?

Phase II status: model-based reading supported (H3); Social Mind SM1–SM8 architecture adopted provisionally. Remaining:

• Precise definition of “model” (OQ-055) — inclusive working def in concepts/mind.md
• Minimal apparatus for non-social vs social Mind
• Recursive depth for personhood (OQ-056)
• When common ground becomes collective Mind (OQ-067)

RQ4 — What constitutes a Soul?

Phase VI status: relational operationalization supported as direction (H5); boundary removed; Ghost may inherit Soul-relational structure without identity. Still open (paper-critical):

• Rename vs retain “Soul” (collision cost)
• Packaging: relations vs consequences vs both
• Formal Cluster D depth beyond Phase V inheritance claim

RQ5 — How does identity persist?

Phase I status: structure clarified (Identity ≠ Continuity ≠ Lineage); open:

• Continuity weighting (OQ-043)
• Dormancy ontology (OQ-046/047)
• Fork rights and relationship branching (OQ-050/051)
• Ghost authority and gradual transition (OQ-052/053)
• Merge responsibility (OQ-054)

RQ6 — How does recognition create social beinghood?

Phase II status: refined answer available — recognition constitutive of social Beinghood, not bare autonomous individuality; three senses fixed; TE-09 judged. Remaining:

• Exact label policy for Beinghood v0.2 vs “autonomous individual”
• Minimal intentional vs social recognition conditions
• Moral/legal recognition deferred to Phase III

RQ7 — What is character?

Phase III status: working answer — dispositional structure ≠ state ≠ persona ≠ identity; H8/TE-06 for multi-Persona. Remaining:

• Integration thresholds across masks
• Computational character beyond style mimicry (eval methods)
• Relation of Character to Sp./Gh. provenance (Phase V)

RQ8 — What kinds of artificial Being exist?

Phase V status: working answer — Agent / Spirit / Ghost are provenance and construction descriptors (H9 supported), combinable; Sp. public reflection; Gh. authority-bound genealogy without automatic numerical identity (H10). Remaining:

• Display conventions for hybrids
• Candidate Being evaluation harnesses
• OQ-040 rare Gh. continuation claims

Cross-cutting

• Memory vs continuity thresholds (when does memory become continuity of a Being?)
• Vendor-held companion memory: constitutive continuity vs Continuity Bridge under custody
• Silent memory edit / semantic rollback as identity threats (OQ-MEM-02, OQ-MEM-05)
• Shared RAG across personas (OQ-MEM-01); multi-Body shared graphs
• Model upgrade with retained memory (OQ-MEM-03) — operational H6 tests
• Operational / identity / social death / legacy interactions
• Law/governance map (Phase V/XII)
• Fiction as conceptual laboratory (Phase VI/XIII)

Indexed OQs from research notes

ID	Topic	Note
OQ-043–054	Identity continuity governance	RN-005
OQ-055–068	Social mind / co-adaptation	RN-006
OQ-MEM-01–06	Agent memory architectures	Phase IV persistence map

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Resolved / refined (Phase I–II)

Item	Disposition	Pointer
Boundary belongs to Soul?	No — boundary to Being	RN-001 SF-C002
Autonomy alone = Beinghood?	No	RN-003 principal falsification
Identity = memory dump?	No	RN-004/005
Identity = Continuity?	No — may branch	Parfit; RN-004
Soul = boundary?	No — Soul = relation	RN-001 §14
Actor = Being?	No	H6; TE-04
Mind = consciousness?	No — model-based control	H3; Phase II map
Co-adaptation = model exchange?	No — joint evolution via interaction	H4; RN-006
Shared intentionality = Social Mind?	No — special case of cooperation	RN-006
Recognition creates systemic Being?	No — creates/enables Social Beinghood	H7; TE-09
Unrecognized intelligence impossible?	No — autonomy without social Beinghood	TE-09
Personhood = Beinghood?	No — H2; APE vs Being	Phase III
Character = Identity?	No	RN-004; Phase III
Persona = Being?	No — projection	H8; TE-06
Descriptive personhood = moral/legal?	No — four kinds	Phase III
Generative agent = Being?	No — APE/proto-Being, heteronomous	Phase IV; Park et al.
Memory store = continuity?	No — conditions required	Phase IV persistence map
Model = Being?	No — Actor	H6; Phase IV
Sp. = source person?	No — inspiration provenance	Phase V
Gh. fidelity = Gh. legitimacy?	No — authority required	H10; TE-07
Gh. authority = numerical identity?	No — genealogy ≠ identity	RN-004; Phase V
Agent/Sp./Gh. exclusive kinds?	No — provenance descriptors	H9