ARTIFACT DNA

Genes:

• Learning Horizon: The last point where waiting still changes the decision: new evidence can still move beliefs enough to justify delay.
• Reversibility Cost: The hidden cost of postponement in domains where options silently degrade, contracts close, or paths harden.
• Lock-In Mechanism: Delay becomes expensive when external commitments, path dependence, or lost access make later action strictly worse.
• Peak Evidence: The signal that more waiting adds little: new data mostly confirms what is already likely, while the option value keeps falling.
• Soft-Fail Drift: The failure mode where a seemingly safe wait turns into a bad outcome because the decision stayed open past the learning horizon.
• Scope Boundaries: The rule is strongest in time-sensitive, path-dependent, or irreversible domains; it is weaker when delay stays cheap and informative.

Relationships:

• Learning Horizon defines end Peak Evidence
• Learning Horizon exceeded by Soft-Fail Drift
• Reversibility Cost drives Lock-In Mechanism
• Lock-In Mechanism causes Soft-Fail Drift
• Peak Evidence signals risk Soft-Fail Drift
• Scope Boundaries limits use Learning Horizon
• Scope Boundaries conditions Reversibility Cost

Continuation:

• Derive a practical test: compare expected information gain from waiting against the marginal cost of lost reversibility.
• Specify domain examples where the threshold is visible, such as hiring, medical intervention, product launches, or emergency response.
• Add a qualification rule that prevents treating this as a law: keep waiting when uncertainty is still shrinking fast and reversibility remains cheap.

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