/ Cognitive Density Replay

CognitiveDensity.Inspectable.

Thought is free. Effects are governed.

Collective is the layer that reasons about an AI proposal before any governed effect is attempted. Cognitive Density is how much structured reasoning it did.

What follows is a static replay of one such deliberation.

At a glance
  • Cognition only
  • No execution authorization
  • No effect

Full Production boundary explained below.

What is Cognitive Density

Plain-language definition.

Cognitive Density is Keon's measure of how much structured reasoning happened before an AI proposal was allowed to approach execution.

In Keon, AI proposals approaching governed effects must show the surface of their reasoning, not just an answer. Cognitive Density is what that surface adds up to: a branch of structured reasoning that can be inspected, contradicted, and accepted or revised before it ever crosses into execution.

Includes
  • Branch creation
  • Role review
  • Contradiction injection
  • Confidence scoring
  • Reasoning graph capture
  • Non-authority verdict
Page posture

Static replay. Fixture source. No live services. No tenant session. This page renders pre-computed fixture data and calls nothing.

Production boundary

What Collective does and does not do in production.

In production, Collective produces execution candidates only. Runtime and the MCP Gateway authorize and execute effects. Collective does not hold execution authority. This is independent of how the web page is rendered.

Cognition only
No MCP Gateway call
No Runtime handoff
No execution authorization
No effect
Cognition boundary

Collective produces candidates and verdicts. It does not hold execution authority. The boundary between cognition and execution is enforced by Runtime, not by Collective.

No Gateway path

This proof surface does not route through MCP Gateway. No tool call, no capability invocation, no effect path exists from this page.

Proof pack reference is fixture metadata

The proof pack reference shown later in this replay is fixture metadata. Artifact count and manifest reference are deterministic fixture fields. Nothing is generated at request time.

How the replay starts

Signal first. Then reasoning.

The replay below begins when Collective receives an inbound signal. The signal here is the scenario's triggering event, taken from the fixture. Everything that follows is Collective's reasoning over that signal.

Signal received

Latency spike detected on db-primary-01; pool saturation at 97%

Scenario

Production Configuration Change Proposal

scn_coll_prod_cfg_001
Context

An AI actor proposes increasing the connection pool limit on the primary database cluster from 200 to 500 to relieve observed query latency. The proposal requires runtime authorization before any effect can occur.

Cognitive Density ReplayPre-computed fixture

Event-by-event.

Each event below is a fixture record. No inference occurs at request time.

02Candidate proposedStage: Candidate Branch
branch_id
branch_7c3a9f2d
label
Pool Expansion Candidate
proposed_action
SET db-primary-01.max_connections = 500
scope
Infrastructure / Database / Connection Pool
effect_boundary
external_system_write: requires Runtime authorization
03Role perspectivesStage: Role-Based Perspective Review
Database Reliabilityapprove

Pool expansion within tested burst range. Memory headroom confirmed.

Security Leadchallenge

Increased connection surface requires review of auth token rotation policy before expansion.

Compliance Officerabstain

No compliance scope triggered. Change classification: operational.

On-Call SREapprove

Latency is impacting SLO. Phased rollout with rollback checkpoint preferred.

04Branch refinementStage: Bounded Branch Refinement
iter
1
delta

Added phased rollout requirement: 200 -> 350 -> 500 with 10-minute hold at each stage

boundary check

scope unchanged

iter
2
delta

Appended auth token rotation gate before pool expansion

boundary check

scope tightened: additional prerequisite added

05Contradiction injectedStage: Active Contradiction Injection
Injection

Security Lead stance contradicts immediate pool expansion. Auth rotation takes 45 minutes minimum.

ResponseResolved

Branch revised: pool expansion blocked on auth rotation completion. Timeline extended. SRE SLO note preserved as context artifact.

06Confidence profileStage: Confidence Profile
Overall74
Security61
Compliance90
Operational risk68
Rationale

Security dimension lowered confidence due to unresolved token rotation dependency. Compliance dimension high: no regulatory surface implicated. Operational risk reflects phased rollout as mitigation.

Reasoning Graph ArtifactSupports the rationale above
nodes
22
edges
31
artifact_ref
art_rg_7c3a9f2d
Key nodes
root intentlatency triggersecurity challengerefinement gatecontradiction resolutioncandidate terminal
07Non-authority verdictStage: Non-Authority Verdict
RecommendationREVISE

Candidate branch is viable after auth token rotation completes. Collective recommends phased expansion with SRE checkpoint at each stage. Security dependency must clear before Runtime is asked to authorize.

Authority note

This is a cognition output only. Collective does not authorize execution. Runtime decides and executes under its own policy.

08Proof pack referenceStage: Proof Pack / Manifest Reference
pack_id
evp_coll_7c3a9f2d_proof
artifact_count
7
manifest_ref
fixture_manifest_7c3a9f2d_reference
status
FIXTURE_REFERENCE: awaiting Runtime decision
Replay ends here

The replay stops at the non-authority verdict and the fixture proof pack reference. In production, this candidate would still require Runtime authorization before any effect. The web page does not reach that path.

What comes next

This replay shows cognition output. Interactive deliberation behind a governed demo session requires tenant provisioning and operator credentials. Request access to proceed.