Andy Dixon
8a018b1cce
docs/interpretation.md gains a table giving each word the interface and generated text use (believes, confidence, knows, remembers, attends, curious, wants, feels, expects, trusts, understands, reflects, dreams, self-model, metacognition, decides) its operational meaning: the stored state it names, the rule that changes it, where to inspect it and what it does not mean. docs/memory.md no longer describes a memory's confidence as "how likely the content is true"; it is the epistemic score defined in docs/beliefs.md.
46 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
46 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
# Memory architecture
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Noema keeps four long-term memory systems in one table (`memories`) distinguished by `kind`, plus an in-process working memory. Every record carries an explicit **epistemic kind** (observation, fact, memory, claim, hypothesis, belief, prediction, assumption, inference, opinion) so the system never confuses what it saw with what it inferred.
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| Kind | What it holds | Created by |
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|---|---|---|
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| episodic | things that happened, with time, participants, channel, source | the `attend` handler when an observation wins attention; conversation |
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| semantic | propositions and general knowledge | operators, belief formation, consolidation |
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| procedural | how to do things (steps, preconditions, outcomes) | reflection, operators |
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| autobiographical | the mind's own significant history | operator actions on the mind, reflection |
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## Fields that matter
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- `confidence` how well supported the content is (the epistemic score defined in docs/beliefs.md, not a probability); `importance` how much it matters; `salience` how strongly it presented itself.
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- `trust` and `credibility` come from the channel the information arrived through (operator > user ≈ system > tool > source > low). Credibility weighs retrieval and, later, belief confidence.
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- `activation` is accessibility. It rises on retrieval and decays over time (half-life 14 days, slowed by importance). **Decay never deletes**: a memory with activation 0.01 is still there, still linked, still readable.
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- `status` is active, retracted (an operator said it is inaccurate), superseded (replaced by a newer version) or archived. Non-active memories stay for provenance and are excluded from normal recall.
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- `origin_event` links to the event that produced the memory; `memory_created` events link back. Relationships (`related_to`, `supports`, `contradicts`, `derived_from`, …) carry confidence and source.
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## Retrieval
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`memory.Store.Retrieve` fuses independent signals, each recorded on the result:
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| Component | Weight | Source |
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|---|---|---|
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| text | 0.40 (0.65 when vectors are unavailable) | PostgreSQL full-text rank; any-term matching by default, websearch syntax when strict |
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| vector | 0.25 | pgvector cosine similarity for the configured embedding model |
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| recency | 0.10 | exp(−age/30 days) |
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| activation | 0.10 | current accessibility |
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| importance | 0.10 | stored importance |
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| credibility | 0.05 | source credibility |
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The `retrieve` process runs this for every new observation and proposes recalled memories as thought candidates. Recall therefore competes for attention like everything else; admitted recalls are reinforced and produce `memory_retrieved` events containing the component scores.
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## Embeddings
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`memory_embeddings` exists only when pgvector is available. Rows carry the model name and dimensions, so switching embedding models never mixes vector spaces; a background job embeds memories that lack a vector for the current model. Without an embedder, retrieval is text plus graph plus recency and the system stays fully functional.
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## Working memory
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Working memory is the small, decaying set of items the mind is actively holding (default nine). It is part of the workspace snapshot, persists across restarts, and feeds the context-relevance feature of attention scoring. See `docs/adr/0001-global-workspace.md`.
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## Operator corrections
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"This memory is inaccurate" sets `status=retracted`, writes an `operator_action` event with the reason and an audit entry. The memory remains visible with a retracted badge; nothing is rewritten.
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