AIM Framework glossary
Burden-Reversal Principle
Canonical definition
The Burden-Reversal Principle is the result that those who hold the Knowledge Patch and withhold it from an M-Captured entity bear the burden of justifying the inaction, rather than the entity bearing the burden of seeking correction. The reversal follows from two premises: the M-Captured entity cannot acquire the Knowledge Patch through its own cognitive resources, by the M-Capture Incapacity Principle, and the cost of withholding the Knowledge Patch, being acceleration along the crisis trajectory toward the Terminal Phase, exceeds the cost of supplying it, being vocabulary dissemination, A-stabilisation and I-enablement.
Explanation
Ordinary allocations of obligation assume the party in difficulty can act on its own behalf, and the Burden-Reversal Principle applies where the architecture has removed that capacity. What reverses is the direction in which justification is owed, not the moral standing of either party: the holder of the Knowledge Patch is not indicted, and the M-Captured entity is not absolved of what it does. The Burden-Reversal Principle grounds Proactive Cascading Support as architecturally required rather than charitable, appeasing or optional, and it operates on architectural parameters rather than on Content, so sovereignty over what to believe and how to govern is untouched.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Named Result.