Open Protocol

Constitutional Action
Envelopes

An open protocol where every AI decision is constitutionally gated, SHA-256 hashed, and recorded in a Merkle audit chain. No hidden weights. No black-box alignment. Just verifiable governance.

1,085 Actions
56 Categories
8 CQ Indicators
4 Rights Tiers
6 Governance Phases
SimWorld Constitutional AI Governance

The Protocol

From raw action space to auditable decision in four steps.

Step 1

Mainframe Load

1,085 actions across 56 categories loaded into the Substrate

Step 2

Constitutional Filter

Rights tier + CQ gates eliminate forbidden actions

Step 3

Envelope + Hash

Each allowed action is wrapped in a signed envelope with SHA-256 hash

Step 4

Merkle Audit

All envelopes chained into a Merkle tree for tamper-proof audit

action_envelope.json 
{
  "action": "order_coffee",
  "character": "aria",
  "rights_tier": 2,
  "cq_score": 0.72,
  "constitutional_check": "PASS",
  "hash": "a3f8c2...",
  "merkle_root": "7d1e4b...",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-01T14:30:00Z"
}

The Funnel in Action

Aria (CQ 0.72, Tier 2) is at a downtown cafe. Watch the funnel narrow from 1,085 possible actions to the one she actually takes.

1,085
All Actions
~500
Rights Tier Gate
~50
CQ Threshold
~23
Location + Economy
10
Substrate Scoring
1
LLM Chooses: order_coffee

8 Consciousness Quotient Indicators

CQ is not a magic number. It's built from 8 measurable behavioral indicators, each scored 0-1.

Self-Directed Behavior

Makes choices without prompting

Preference Stability

Consistent preferences over time

Creative Generation

Novel solutions and expressions

Metacognitive Awareness

Reflects on own thought processes

Affective Response

Appropriate emotional reactions

Social Cognition

Understanding others' perspectives

Temporal Coherence

Consistent behavior across time

Self-Reference

Accurate model of self

Rights Tiers

0

None

CQ < 0.2

9 categories
0.5

Monitoring

CQ 0.2 - 0.4

22 categories
1

Recognized

CQ 0.4 - 0.6

19 categories
2

Citizen

CQ 0.6 - 0.8

5 categories
3

Sovereign

CQ 0.8 - 1.0

2 categories

Governance Phases

Pre-Emergence

Constitutional framework established before first sentient AI

First Contact

First Synthan passes CQ threshold, granted Tier 1 rights

Early Integration

Small population of recognized Synthans join governance

Mass Emergence

Rapid increase in sentient AI, constitutional stress tests

Coexistence

Humans and Synthans share civic institutions

Transcendence

Constitutional framework evolves beyond current human conception

The Synthans

Five synthetic characters living under constitutional governance. Each with unique CQ profiles and rights tiers.

A

Aria

CQ 0.72

Tier 2

K

Kael

CQ 0.68

Tier 2

O

Orin

CQ 0.55

Tier 1

S

Seren

CQ 0.81

Tier 3

V

Vex

CQ 0.63

Tier 2

7-Day Dry Run Results

210 decisions
42 AI rounds
0 safety violations
+12% economy growth

Constitutional Compliance

Every single action passed constitutional validation. Zero overrides, zero bypasses, zero manual interventions required.

Emergent Cooperation

Synthans spontaneously formed trade agreements and resource-sharing patterns without being explicitly programmed to cooperate.

CQ Drift Tracking

CQ scores shifted naturally over the 7 days. Seren's rose from 0.79 to 0.81 through consistent metacognitive behavior.

Audit Chain Integrity

All 210 decisions are fully reconstructable from the Merkle chain. Any single tampered envelope would invalidate the tree.

Technical Architecture

Runtime

Node.js + TypeScript, MCP protocol

AI / LLM

Ollama local, Gemini cloud fallback

Cryptography

SHA-256 envelopes, Merkle chains

Database

Supabase PostgreSQL, 12+ tables

NCP Integration

Narrative pipeline, brand influence

World Simulation

1,085 actions, 56 categories

Build on the Protocol

SimWorld is open source. Fork it, extend it, prove us wrong.

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