Identity Doctrine: Ontology, Axioms, Collapse, and Human Interpretation

This doctrine paper establishes a unified conceptual framework for identity in modern computational systems, with direct relevance to Large Language Models and complex dynamic architectures. It challenges classical identity models based on static configurations or stored credentials, showing that identity in contemporary systems is a realized, drift-bounded, and temporally coherent phenomenon. To formalize execution-realized identity, the paper synthesizes three foundational constructs and introduces a fourth, human-aligned extension, completing the doctrinal arc for identity-conditioned governance. 1. SEBA Ontology (Substrate, Execution, Behavior, Attestation): A four-layer identity decomposition that replaces legacy hardware–environment–model frameworks. Each layer drifts independently, contributes a distinct component to identity, and admits its own cryptographic attestation surface. 2. Axioms of Identity Preservation: A formal set of invariants defining the strict conditions for identity continuity. These axioms specify lawful transition, structural and functional coherence, and tamper-evident provenance across system evolution. 3. Identity Collapse Taxonomy: A decomposition-aligned classification of identity failure. The taxonomy captures layer-specific drift (substrate, execution, behavioral, attestation collapse), upward drift propagation, and temporal incoherence (lineage breaks, identity bifurcations). 4. Human Interpretive Collapse: A novel integration of systems architecture with Human–Computer Interaction (HCI). The paper models human interpretive state as a parallel identity trajectory grounded in mental models, distributed cognition, and situation awareness. Governance collapses when the human interpretive trajectory diverges from the realized system identity trajectory, even if the system itself remains internally coherent. By bridging cryptography, systems engineering, and cognitive science, this work provides the complete theoretical foundation for identity-aware governance envelopes, collapse-resilient architectures, and human-aligned identity assurance. It shifts the paradigm from identity that is declared to identity that is execution-realized and cryptographically falsifiable. Applications: This framework provides core theoretical primitives for researchers and engineers working on AI alignment, verifiable behavioral equivalence, software supply-chain provenance, digital-thread integrity, and continuous attestation in stochastic or autonomously updating systems.