---
slug: "Assumption"
name: "Assumption"
type: "Data Structures"
layer: "Infrastructure"
ref: "Assumption#d99b"
sema_id: "sema:Assumption#mh:SHA-256:d99bf34ffd59aa1c8ca25f5477b1df297b8a2f9cf992c242de73d13aef88a097"
tags: ["Infrastructure","Data Structures"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json
url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Assumption/
related: ["Datum","EpistemicCascade","FirstPrinciples","Leapdebt","Reasonfade","Leapdebt#0bcd","Reasonfade#3ac3"]
---

# Assumption

Provisional truth

Layer: Infrastructure · Category: Data Structures

## Mechanism

A gap-filler used when [Datum](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Datum.md) is missing; treated as true temporarily to allow thinking to proceed. Must be tracked and validated.

## Invariants

- Provisionality: must be explicitly flagged as unverified.
- Tracking: must name what it stands in for — a missing [Datum](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Datum.md), or a judgment not made.
- Discharge: must carry a validation deadline or an invalidation trigger.

## Failure modes

- Calcified: depended on far downstream from where it was made, with nothing prompting a re-check.
- Mutually inconsistent set: two assumptions each close a local gap and contradict each other in the same chain.
- Judgment recorded as datum-gap: the premise replaces a decision nobody made rather than a fact nobody has, so validating it has no target.

## Data schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "premise",
    "risk_level",
    "criticality"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "premise": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "The statement treated as temporarily true"
    },
    "risk_level": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": 0,
      "maximum": 1,
      "description": "Probability of falsity"
    },
    "criticality": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "Low",
        "Medium",
        "Existential"
      ],
      "description": "Impact if assumption fails"
    },
    "validation_deadline": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "date-time"
    }
  }
}
```

## Builds on

- [Datum](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Datum.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Used by

- [EpistemicCascade](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/EpistemicCascade.md) (Mind; References)
- [FirstPrinciples](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/FirstPrinciples.md) (Mind; References)
- [Leapdebt](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Leapdebt.md) (Mind; References)
- [Reasonfade](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Reasonfade.md) (Mind; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:Assumption#mh:SHA-256:d99bf34ffd59aa1c8ca25f5477b1df297b8a2f9cf992c242de73d13aef88a097`
- Ref: `Assumption#d99b`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:Assumption#mh:SHA-256:46479820ecd594cd6c789bae96a1eb67b14d6b04d2e4371913852292c0a402a0`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Assumption/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/#Assumption)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Assumption.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json)