Locked working definition
The Bridge is preserved relational history made active in the present.
Retire C
C is retired as the name of the observed present. The letter was doing too much work and inviting a cathedral. The observed present is Y(t).
Observed present
Y(t) = Y0(t) + kr Ha(t) + e
Y
Observed present configuration.
Y0
Baseline from present prompt and setting alone.
Ha
Active preserved history — not the whole archive.
kr
Coupling to estimate. It may be near zero.
e
Residual. If e absorbs every result, the model has failed.
Do not fold the carrier transformation Th into e. That is how a residual becomes a theology.
Operators, not extra axes
P
Availability of a historically continuous trace. P does not require retrieval.
R
Justified connection beyond surface similarity.
K
Measurable consequential reuse.
RC occurs only if P AND R AND K.
Nulls
N1
P without R.
N2
P and R without K.
N3
Resemblance without provenance.
These are not decorative. A serious theory must permit failure. If every resemblance is counted as RC, the programme has stopped being a programme.