The Meaning Model
Construct worlds coarsely, then develop the parts that matter. The Meaning Model connects world records, concepts, descriptions, understanding, and story text in one addressed representation. Finer detail must respect an accepted account or revise it explicitly.
This repository brings together the theory, its compact grammar appendix, the Rust engine and MCP interface, and The Book of Conditions, a worked construction with a complete twelve-chapter manuscript.
Read first
- Meaning Model paper - the argument, grammar, construction method, examples, and numerical portrait.
- Grammar appendix - a focused reference to the same rules, not a separate theory or additional set of requirements.
- The Book of Conditions
- the completed story; Markdown and model sources are also included.
The six world-record forms are Concept, Thing, Event, Binding, Cut, and Realization. A Cut divides one declared unit among exclusive sibling answers and an explicit remainder; its weights sum to one. Ordinary process links are unweighted. Dates, money, counts, and physical measurements keep their external units. Understanding Nodes and Document Nodes share the address space without acquiring the authority of accepted world facts.
Try it
The smallest demonstration requires only Node.js:
node --test examples/refinement-trial/example.test.mjs
It shows a refinement that fits its parent, a locally valid refinement that contradicts the parent, and an explicit revision. The example is synthetic, not evidence that the full implementation or learning proposal is complete.
For the Rust engine and MCP tools, install Rust/Cargo, Node.js 22.18 or newer, and npm, then run:
make install
make build
make test
Start the MCP server after building:
cd mcp-server
npm start
See the MCP guide, engine guide,
and modeling protocol. Existing life-sim command,
schema, resource, and binary identifiers are retained for compatibility with
saved artifacts. They do not identify a second engine.
The public package is
@emergent-wisdom/meaning-model-mcp.
Its official MCP Registry identity is io.github.emergent-wisdom/meaning-model,
described by server.json. Registry-based clients must supply
the path to an explicitly built engine; the installation guide explains this
setup. To prepare a self-contained npm tarball locally, run make npm-package. The package includes
Rust source rather than platform binaries and uses an explicit
meaning-model-mcp --build-engine setup step. See the
package installation guide. Creating a tarball does
not publish it or establish ownership of the npm scope.
What is demonstrated
The Book is a bounded example of model-assisted authorship: macro accounts, complete lives, local Cuts, event descriptions, linked construction rationales, and prose were developed and revised together. Its accepted sources can be imported into Rust and the manuscript rendered from document nodes. That retrospective import is not a recovered transaction log of the original authoring process.
The engine implements typed records, immutable revisions, persistence, candidate acceptance, normalized Cuts, and bounded narrative graph operations. It does not implement every contract in the paper. The implementation boundary distinguishes implemented checks, authoring conventions, and missing behavior. The preregistered matched comparison and independent read-back study remain prospective. Neither a passing validator nor an authored numerical portrait establishes historical truth, psychological validity, or an advantage over ordinary writing.
Repository map
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
paper/ | Paper and appendix sources, shared style, figures, bibliography |
rust-engine/ | Shared Rust implementation, optional numerical simulation capabilities, tests and examples |
mcp-server/ | MCP interface to that engine |
profiles/ | Reusable authoring conventions, not mandatory human categories |
docs/ | Operational documentation and implementation limits |
examples/refinement-trial/ | Small standalone construction example |
examples/book-of-conditions/ | Accepted Book, model sources, rationale nodes, and reproducible export |
output/pdf/ | Ready-to-read paper, grammar appendix, and Book PDFs |
Meaning Model owns the representation and joint construction method. The
separate Life Simulation project studies process-history generation,
inference, learning, and their empirical evaluation. It consumes this engine;
it does not maintain a second implementation. A digest-bound copy of its paper
is included only as a companion MCP reading resource under
docs/companions/life-simulation/.
Build the documents
With latexmk and a LaTeX installation containing the imported packages:
make paper
make grammar
make book
To check the code, examples, resources, and documents together:
make check
Release packaging
make release checks and builds the package, then exports an allowlisted clean
directory beneath build/. The export includes the three PDFs and their
sources, but not .git, build caches, private planning, review transcripts,
or earlier constructions.
See the release guide for packaging and provenance details. Exporting files does not push to GitHub or publish a package.
License and citation
Original code is MIT licensed. Original papers, documentation, authored model data, and the Book are CC BY 4.0. NOTICE preserves the boundary for third-party material. CITATION.cff identifies the author and preferred paper citation; the repository URL is recorded there, and a DOI will be added when assigned.