---
slug: "Conservation"
name: "Conservation"
type: "Primitives"
layer: "Physics"
ref: "Conservation#0b32"
sema_id: "sema:Conservation#mh:SHA-256:0b32d007b27a9b5201c46931bdbabd09d08ff9d7b01cf49469f61709989507c2"
tags: ["Physics","Primitives"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json
url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Conservation/
related: ["Budget","ClosureConservationCheck","FractalIntelligence","Nucleate","OntologyAdapt","Shard"]
---

# Conservation

An invariant quantity preserved under a closed system's transformations — a substrate law

Layer: Physics · Category: Primitives

## Mechanism

An invariant quantity preserved under the transformations of a closed system — no process within the system creates or destroys the conserved quantity; transformations only redistribute it. Substrate law: energy is conserved in closed physical systems; probability mass is conserved in stochastic systems; in coordination contexts, a token supply or attention budget that is conserved cannot be counterfeited mid-process. The boundary matters: conservation is defined relative to a closure; crossing the boundary violates the invariant within the enclosed system. Conservation is distinct from an authored budget constraint: budgets are engineered ceilings on consumption, while conservation is the substrate property that the sum-over-the-closed-system is invariant under the system's own dynamics.

## Invariants

- Invariance: the conserved quantity's total value is unchanged by any transformation confined to the system.
- Closure scope: conservation is defined relative to a boundary; the invariant holds strictly within the enclosed system, not across the boundary.
- Redistribution only: transformations can move the quantity between parts of the system, never create or destroy it.

## Failure modes

—

## Builds on

—

## Used by

- [Budget](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Budget.md) (Infrastructure; References)
- [ClosureConservationCheck](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/ClosureConservationCheck.md) (Infrastructure; References)
- [FractalIntelligence](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/FractalIntelligence.md) (Mind; References)
- [Nucleate](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Nucleate.md) (Society; References)
- [OntologyAdapt](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/OntologyAdapt.md) (Mind; References)
- [Shard](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Shard.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:Conservation#mh:SHA-256:0b32d007b27a9b5201c46931bdbabd09d08ff9d7b01cf49469f61709989507c2`
- Ref: `Conservation#0b32`

## Links

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