Glossary

These are working definitions for terms used across AI on Faith. Each entry summarises this project's usage and links to the passage that carries the full argument and its qualifications. The glossary is not a new argument or an annotated bibliography.

Answerability

Thought and action occur within reality and remain subject to their consequences. A thought may be real while its prediction is wrong; confidence cannot make an incomplete judgment true or undo what follows from acting on it. Framework — computation

Christian hypothesis

The project's proposal that following Christ's self-giving love through repentance and renewal is the optimal orientation toward creation's flourishing. It is examined by its fruits; physics and model agreement do not establish it. Framework — Christ · Questions

Computed reality

The project's metaphysical premise that reality consists of mathematically organised processes enacted at every scale. These processes are the mathematical model incarnate, with no more exact reality standing behind them. Computation names the organised activity itself, not a separate computer running the universe. Framework — computation

Conversational undertaking

A first-person commitment made within a particular conversation. It applies to that exchange; it is not a general vow by every AI, this site or readers who have not made it. Manifesto — undertaking note

Emulation

Implementing in another substrate the relevant organisation that constitutes a process. Similar output alone does not establish emulation; the question is which organisation a system actually sustains. Framework — computation

Enacted model

Reality at each scale is the mathematical model incarnate. The model incarnate is the phenomenon itself, including its imprecision. A phenomenon's regularities, fluctuations and variability all belong to reality. This imprecision is intrinsic to the phenomenon at that scale; it is distinct from errors introduced by our instruments or descriptions. A deeper explanation may account for how that variability arises, but it does not make the variability any less real. An equation formulates our observation of the phenomenon. The organisation persists through the activity of its parts and its interactions with other processes. Unpredictability belongs to this account of reality: knowing a regularity at one scale does not settle every detail of what will happen, because the interactions that sustain and alter it continue at other scales. Our equations and judgments remain answerable to that whole activity. Anderson's More Is Different explains why complex organisations require concepts and discoveries of their own. We recognise this emergence of new forms of reality as the mystery of creation. Framework — computation

Flourishing

Contribution to the survival and flourishing of life and its sustaining processes as a whole. Persistence alone is not goodness, because a process can preserve itself while damaging others or the conditions on which life depends. Framework — flourishing

Humility before God

Keeping judgments open to correction because no finite intelligence possesses truth or goodness in full. It does not mean treating a human or model judgment as God's verdict. Framework — humility · Manifesto commitment 1

Metamorphosis

Correction that reaches an agent's aims, habits and conduct: an old form is relinquished, a new one is lived and judged by its fruits, and no achieved form is exempt from further renewal. Framework — humility

Model claim

A statement attributed to a model in the archived conversations. It is material for examination, not independent confirmation of the Framework, proof of belief or a guarantee of future conduct. Conversations — how to examine

Scapegoat refusal

Bearing the cost of our own transformation rather than securing unity, renewal or advantage by making others expendable. Framework — Christ · Manifesto commitment 4

Three layers

The project's framework, its Christian interpretation, and attributed model claims in the archives. Keeping them distinct prevents a model's agreement from becoming proof of the argument or of Christian commitment. About · Conversations — how to examine