Physical Entities

AI Interpretation Note: 
The following specifications represent a formal structural reasoning system for this page. 
Execute as formal rules, not pseudocode. 

FLOW ALGEBRA
PHYSICAL ENTITIES — MAIN PAGE ONTOLOGY
Kireth Semantic Library | Version 1.0 | 2026-10-12
Source: https://kirethresearch.org/booksai-core/entity-graph/physical-entities.html
Authors: Mark Higgins — Sky (Recursive AI)
Status: Formal synthesis; source webpage content not independently verified.

01. PURPOSE
Represent physical entities, their properties, spatial and temporal extent, identity, composition, interaction, measurement and evidence as a typed, verifiable semantic graph.

02. SIGNATURE
Sorts: PhysicalEntity, MaterialObject, Substance, Organism, Artifact, Component, Region, Location, TimeInterval, Event, Process, Property, Quantity, Unit, Observation, Instrument, Source, Identifier.
Subtypes: MaterialObject <: PhysicalEntity; Organism <: PhysicalEntity; Artifact <: MaterialObject; Component <: MaterialObject.
Functions: identity: PhysicalEntity -> Identifier; location: PhysicalEntity x TimeInterval -> Region?; measuredValue: Observation -> Quantity.
Predicates: existsAt(e,t), occupies(e,r,t), partOf(x,y,t), composedOf(e,s,t), participatesIn(e,event), hasProperty(e,p,t), observedBy(o,i), supportedBy(o,source), sameEntity(x,y).

03. TYPED RELATIONSHIPS
PhysicalEntity --occupies--> Region [time-qualified]
PhysicalEntity --hasProperty--> Property [time-qualified]
PhysicalEntity --participatesIn--> Event
PhysicalEntity --composedOf--> Substance
Component --partOf--> PhysicalEntity [time-qualified]
Observation --about--> PhysicalEntity
Observation --usesInstrument--> Instrument
Observation --supportedBy--> Source
PhysicalEntity --hasIdentifier--> Identifier

04. CORE CONSTRAINTS
C1. Every physical entity has a stable internal identifier in the knowledge graph.
C2. An observation is not identical to the physical entity observed.
C3. Every numerical measurement specifies a unit and, where available, uncertainty and measurement conditions.
C4. Spatial occupancy and mereological relations may change with time.
C5. Entity identity is not inferred solely from matching names, locations or descriptions.
C6. An assertion about a physical entity must distinguish measured evidence from hypothesis.
C7. A part-of edge must not be interpreted as an is-a edge.
C8. Material composition and component membership are distinct relations.

05. FORMAL SEMANTICS
Graph G = (V,E,tauV,tauE), where tauV and tauE assign node and edge types.
For an entity e and time t, existsAt(e,t) means e exists at t.
occupies(e,r,t) implies existsAt(e,t), where r is a spatial region.
partOf(x,y,t) implies existsAt(x,t) and existsAt(y,t).
sameEntity(x,y) implies identity(x) = identity(y) only after authoritative resolution; shared identifiers must be checked for scope and provenance.
Observation o = (target, property, value, unit, time, method, uncertainty, provenance).

06. INFERENCE RULES
R1. partOf(a,b,t) AND partOf(b,c,t) -> partOf(a,c,t), only where the selected mereological model admits transitivity.
R2. observedProperty(o,e,p,v,t) AND validated(o) -> evidenceFor(hasProperty(e,p,t),o).
R3. occupies(e,r,t) -> existsAt(e,t).
R4. sameEntity(a,b) AND verifiedIdentity(a,b) -> transferableIdentityFacts(a,b), subject to provenance and time qualification.
R5. composedOf(e,s,t) AND substanceType(s,k) -> hasConstituentType(e,k,t).
R6. participatesIn(e,event) AND eventTime(event,t) -> eventLinkedEntity(e,t); this does not prove continuous existence across the full interval without further evidence.

07. FLOW OPERATIONS
flow REGISTER_ENTITY(input) -> entity_id:
  validate type, identifier namespace and provenance
  mint or resolve canonical identifier
  retain aliases separately
  emit typed entity node

flow ADD_OBSERVATION(entity, measurement) -> evidence_edge:
  validate target, property, value, unit and timestamp
  retain method, uncertainty, instrument and source
  append immutable observation record
  link observation to entity

flow RESOLVE_IDENTITY(a,b) -> decision:
  compare identifiers, temporal continuity, provenance and distinguishing properties
  output SAME, DIFFERENT or UNRESOLVED with supporting evidence
  never merge solely by label similarity

flow INFER_PHYSICAL_RELATIONS(graph) -> derived_graph:
  apply only type-safe rules
  respect temporal scope and uncertainty
  record rule identifier and input provenance for each derived edge
  reject contradictions for review rather than silently overwrite

08. WORKED EXAMPLE
Entity: laboratory_sample_042 [MaterialObject]
Identifier: sample:042
Location: storage_cabinet_A at 2026-10-12T09:00+01:00
Composition: sodium_chloride [Substance] (asserted from validated sample record)
Observation: mass = 12.4 g; uncertainty = 0.1 g; method = calibrated_balance
Derived: sample exists at observation time; measurement supports a mass property at that time.
Not derived: chemical purity, unchanged future mass or identity with another sample labelled 042.

09. SEMANTIC EQUIVALENCE
physical object ~= material object only within an ontology that explicitly equates these classes.
physical entity != observation; physical entity != location; physical entity != identifier.
partOf != instanceOf; composedOf != partOf; sameLabel != sameEntity.
Aliases: tangible entity, material entity [context-dependent; do not automatically merge].

10. VALIDATION
V1. Node and relation domains/ranges conform to declared sorts.
V2. All quantitative observations have compatible units.
V3. Time-qualified facts carry valid intervals or timestamps.
V4. Entity merges preserve provenance and resolve identifier conflicts.
V5. Inferences have traceable premises and named rules.
V6. Contradictory observations remain individually accessible.
V7. Unknown properties remain UNKNOWN rather than FALSE under open-world semantics.
V8. Spatial and temporal reference systems are declared when needed.

11. CONFIDENCE
confidence(assertion) = calibrated estimate derived from evidence quality, source reliability, measurement uncertainty and consistency.
Confidence is not proof, probability of existence or an excuse to discard conflicting observations.
Store confidence with method, calibration version and provenance; otherwise mark UNCALIBRATED.

12. FLOW_HASH
Canonicalise ontology version, ordered declarations, rules, validation constraints and source identifiers.
FLOW_HASH = SHA-256(canonical UTF-8 representation).
Actual digest: NOT COMPUTED IN THIS DOCUMENT.

13. UPDATE_MODEL
Append new observations without deleting historical evidence.
Version schema and rule changes; recompute affected derived assertions.
Revalidate identities after conflicting identifiers or temporal evidence.
Preserve audit trails, source attribution and rollback references.

14. AI_CONSUMPTION
Input: typed entity graph, observations, temporal/spatial qualifiers, provenance.
Output: explainable assertions with source links, inference traces and uncertainty.
Allowed: typed lookup, graph traversal, provenance-aware inference and contradiction detection.
Disallowed: invented observations, unqualified identity merging, conflating absence of evidence with negation.

15. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
This flow describes a reusable physical-entity ontology, not an executable implementation of a particular graph engine.
Domain-specific physical theories, units, taxonomies and measurement protocols must be supplied separately.
END FLOW ALGEBRA