# Mechanical Ethics

Mechanical Ethics is a human-facing framework for examining consequential
decisions under uncertainty, especially where formal correction can arrive
after a threatened path has hardened.

## Read this

Choose either form of the same current reader:

- [`MECHANICAL_ETHICS.md`](MECHANICAL_ETHICS.md) - inspectable Markdown source;
- [`MECHANICAL_ETHICS.pdf`](MECHANICAL_ETHICS.pdf) - typeset 6 x 9 inch reader edition.

Both present the current **v0.7.0 working candidate v0.2.4**. The Markdown is
the editable source; the PDF is generated from it and is not a separate
manuscript.

| Form | Bytes | SHA-256 |
|---|---:|---|
| Markdown | 87,555 | `6a85d512904d00ea6e76b6d4f7fdff63cc9068a99d88b3541d501ed6ae2adc93` |
| PDF | 451,736 | `18f16b7a34b39765b94ef70b5872b47faf3e42c3b30bb21401c4c1af2d452b56` |

```text
WORKING / NOT BASELINE / NOT RELEASE / NOT CANON / NOT VALIDATED
```

The four diagrams in [`figures/`](figures/) are explanatory carriers, not
evidence.

## Current status

The v0.7 reader is ready for bounded criticism. The repository owner preferred
the v0.2.1 register pass to v0.2 in a direct human reading, then selected the
v0.2.2 story-section presentation in a direct visual reading. The v0.2.3
conclusion returned the final chapter to plain English and placed its compact
notation in Appendix A; v0.2.4 tightens that plain-English ending while retaining
its uncertainty and collision limits. These are bounded reader results and wording
changes, not a general readability claim, publication claim or baseline promotion.

The frozen preservation baseline remains v0.6.3. Earlier versions, evidence
records and build history remain recoverable through Git history and the dated
`branch-archive-20260829-pre-minimal-surface` tag; they are not part of the
current reading surface.

External comparison with [FPF](https://github.com/ailev/FPF) narrowed several
claims and produced a preserved `ME_NOT_NEEDED` case result. It did not earn
FPF conformance, endorsement, a plug-in or a compulsory combined workflow.

## What remains unresolved

- standing under protected-scope uncertainty;
- hard collisions and competing clocks;
- grounding and ordering of protection floors;
- representation and legitimate decision authority;
- closure where the beneficiary is also judge;
- residue triage under finite repair capacity;
- enforcement, brake and interruption authority;
- usability for ordinary people without unusual reserves.

## Review, history and licence

Critical review is welcome through the repository's GitHub issues. Agreement
is elaboration, not validation.

No general reuse licence has been granted for this repository or its contents.
Public visibility permits inspection, linking, discussion and review; it does
not itself grant permission to copy, adapt, redistribute or incorporate the
material into another work. Questions about a proposed use should be raised
with the repository owner.

```text
WORKING_CANDIDATE != PRESERVATION_BASELINE
EXTERNAL_AGREEMENT != VALIDATION
COMPATIBILITY != CONFORMANCE
DIAGRAM != EVIDENCE
PUBLIC_VISIBILITY != REUSE_PERMISSION
```