Honesty at exchange time; responsibility remains human
What SSMDE does (and does not) do
SSMDE tells the truth about the declaration, not the truth of the world. It carries:
- what you saw (
value), - how stable or risky it looked (
align,band), - which rulebook defined that judgment (
manifest_id), - and when/where it was said (
stamp).
It does not replace calibration, engineering judgment, clinical decisions, financial review, legal compliance, or operational safety procedures.
The duty-of-care boundary (copy-ready statements)
• value is factual-as-reported; instruments may still be wrong
• align is bounded math, not a guarantee of physical safety
• band encodes policy, not permission to ignore SOPs
• manifest_id freezes rule intent, not responsibility
• stamp proves timing/order, not correctness of sensors or models
Typical failure patterns SSMDE prevents
Silent threshold shifting.
“GREEN meant something else.” → No. Cutpoints and actions live in the manifest tied by manifest_id.
Dashboard mythology.
“The chart said OK.” → Now “OK” maps to declared numeric ranges and response windows in the manifest.
Disappearing warnings.
“We never saw it.” → Stamped chains make removal/reordering detectable.
Correct safety posture (Do / Don’t)
Do:
• Treat SSMDE as evidence of declaration (what was said, when, under which policy)
• Keep SOPs, checklists, and human sign-off as the last mile
• Use band to drive escalation windows; verify they’re met
• Audit with stamp chains; reconcile divergent histories explicitly
Don’t:
• Assume “GREEN” equals safe hardware or correct diagnosis
• Auto-execute critical actions on band alone in high-risk domains
• Hide cutpoints or change them without minting a new manifest_id
• Treat any single record as reality-proof; cross-check sensors
Copy-ready disclaimers you can attach
Operational safety
This stream is observation-and-governance only. It does not substitute for lockout/tagout, interlocks, or physical safety barriers.
Clinical
These signals are not medical diagnosis or treatment decisions. Clinician oversight and local protocols remain mandatory.
Finance
These records do not constitute audited financial statements. Policy bands guide review timing; controllers remain responsible.
AI routing
Band-driven routing is a triage aid. Final authority follows the escalation policy and human sign-off where required.
Normative guardrails (bounded math + replayable policy)
Alignment MUST remain bounded and reproducible:
a_c := clamp(a_raw, -1+eps_a, +1-eps_a)
u := atanh(a_c)
U += w * u
W += w
align := tanh( U / max(W, eps_w) )
Escalation MUST be declared, not implied:
band := band_from_align(align, manifest_id) # cutpoints + response windows published in the manifest
Evidence MUST be chainable where accountability matters:
stamp := "SSMCLOCK1|<utc_iso>|...|sha256=<digest>|prev=<digest_prev>"
Process checklist before you rely on SSMDE in critical contexts
[ ] Sensors calibrated & health flags propagated into value/health
[ ] Manifest published; cutpoints + response windows approved
[ ] align verified bounded (-1,+1) across datasets
[ ] band → escalation runbooks trained with on-call staff
[ ] stamp chains validated end-to-end (drop/reorder test fails)
[ ] Privacy review of disclosures (minimum necessary mode applied)
Bottom line
SSMDE makes intent and timing transparent. It cannot certify physical correctness or moral adequacy. Use it to prove what you knew and promised, then meet the promise with disciplined human duty-of-care.
Navigation
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SSMDE – Table of Contents
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