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Audit Trail (v0.1 — Public Ledger)

What this page is

This is the public chain-of-custody ledger for the UTE Project.

Its purpose is to allow a skeptical reader to trace:

Claim → Evidence → Quality/weight → Confounds → Scoring impact → Update history

This ledger is in active construction. Version v0.1 publishes the audit structure and the first fully populated constraint entry. Additional constraints will be added incrementally.

How to read the audit trail

UTE treats ontologies as competing system architectures and evaluates them against shared constraints.

Each constraint is documented as a Constraint Card with:

  • a precise, testable requirement

  • a snapshot of the strongest evidence

  • load-bearing anchor citations

  • a confound and alternative-explanation checklist

  • explicit falsifier / upgrade criteria

  • an explanation of how the constraint affects ontology scoring

  • links to a decision log when updates occur

Evidence grading (A / B / C / D)

  • A — Strong: replicated, well-controlled primary sources; clear operational definitions

  • B — Solid: good primary sources and controls; some limitations remain

  • C — Contested: interpretation-sensitive, limited controls, or sparse primary sources

  • D — Weak: anecdotal, high-confound, or insufficient documentation

Evidence grade reflects confidence, not truth.

Constraint weight (High / Medium / Low)

Weight indicates how strongly a constraint should influence ontology scoring at the current state of evidence.

  • High: central constraint with broad implications

  • Medium: meaningful but narrower scope or lower certainty

  • Low: included for tracking; not allowed to dominate scoring

Weight is expected to change over time.

Scoring traceability (Anchor-Lock rule)

No score is accepted unless it cites a specific anchor within a constraint entry (e.g., C1-A1).
Unanchored scores are not counted.

Update policy

UTE does not quietly remove controversial constraints. If evidence weakens, we downgrade grade or weight and record the reason. Every material change must link to a Decision Log entry.

Constraint Index (v0.1)

IDConstraintGradeWeightStatusC1Bioelectric MorphogenesisBHighLiveA2Information Causality——PendingE1Inverse Correlation Phenomena——PendingE2Terminal Lucidity——PendingF2Veridical Information——Pending

Outlier constraints (e.g., F2) will include a separate chain-of-custody standard.

Constraint Card — C1 (Worked Example)

C1 — Bioelectric Morphogenesis

Domain: Biology / Development
Status: Active
Evidence grade: B
Weight: High
Last updated: 2026-01-06 (v0.1)

Constraint statement

Requirement: In at least some developmental contexts, bioelectric state (resting membrane potential and ion conductance patterns) exerts causal, upstream control over morphogenesis and scaling, in ways that are not reducible to gene expression alone.

Operational definition:
Repeatable, structured morphogenetic outcomes produced by manipulating bioelectric state (Vₘem / conductance), with controls that separate ion flow from protein identity.

Exclusions:
Non-specific injury, toxicity, generalized stress responses, or chaotic malformations without pathway specificity.

Evidence snapshot

  • Vertebrate craniofacial patterning changes induced by altering bioelectric state using multiple ion translocators producing similar voltage effects

  • Appendage scaling in zebrafish altered by gain-of-function potassium conductance; pore-dead mutants abolish the effect

Anchor citations

C1-A1: Vertebrate craniofacial patterning via bioelectric state
Supports: Voltage patterning acts upstream of key developmental regulators

C1-A2: Conductance-dependent control of appendage scaling
Supports: Ion conductance can set morphogenetic scale independently of protein identity

(Full citations and figure pointers will be published in the Evidence Library.)

Confounds & alternative explanations

  • Pleiotropy / protein structure effects: mitigated by conductance-specific and pore-dead controls

  • General stress or injury: mitigated by patterned, repeatable outcomes and pathway-specific transcriptional changes

  • Genes still primary, voltage downstream: partially addressed; further “programmability” demonstrations would strengthen the case

Falsifier / upgrade criteria

Downgrade if:

  • conductance-dependent effects fail replication, or collapse into non-specific injury under tighter controls

Upgrade if:

  • independent vertebrate replications demonstrate voltage-first gating of major morphogen pathways, or

  • control-theoretic signatures (setpoints, error correction) are observed

Ontology impact (summary)

  • Genetic-first materialism: pressured; requires an added global coordination mechanism

  • Layered control models (e.g., HPII): supported; bioelectric state functions naturally as a control interface

(Numeric scores are maintained in the Score Matrix.)

Decision log

  • DL-C1-0001: Initial constraint definition, anchors, grade, and weight (v0.1)