Society · Coordination
OntologyHandshake
Negotiating shared definitions
Definition
Mechanism
Before exchanging data, agents exchange 'definition hashes' for key terms using CompatibilityCheck. If hashes mismatch, they enter a negotiation phase to map their internal ontologies to a temporary shared dictionary (a 'pidgin' Protocol). It uses SpectralTune to rapidly identify semantic divergence before negotiating definitions.
Preconditions
- Both agents have ontologies.
- Communication channel open.
- Ontology serializable.
Postconditions
- Shared terms mapped.
- Unmappable terms flagged.
- Communication can proceed with known precision.
Invariants
- Every mapping states its cardinality: one-to-one, many-to-one, or one-to-many.
- A term with no faithful mapping is flagged unmappable rather than coerced onto the nearest one.
Risks
Failure modes
Failure to converge on a mapping.
High negotiation overhead.
Dictionary mismatch risks semantic errors.
Relationships
Builds on
Composes with
Infrastructure
Schema compatibility verification
References
Infrastructure
Communication standard
Verifying ontology alignment before data transfer
Used by
References
Mind
Building a structured conceptual framework
Distinguish Peer from Principal
Mind
Restructuring categories to fit data
Protocol adaptation wrapper
Composes with
Protocol-level cognitive mode switching