AIM Framework glossary
Contribution-Tracked Authority
Canonical definition
Contribution-Tracked Authority is the configuration in which occupation of a role, and the scope of decision-power attached to that role, are determined by observable behavioural output produced in or relevant to the role's actual craft, such that authority movement tracks variation in that output rather than variation in visibility or mimetic signal, and the pool of role-occupants is drawn from candidates who have demonstrated craft performance rather than candidates who have demonstrated mimetic tournament fitness.
Explanation
Authority that tracks contribution is the architectural counterpart to status-derived leadership. Instead of selecting leaders through processes that filter for visibility, prestige-signalling, or dominance display, all of which systematically pass high-wM candidates, the appointment process specifies, in advance, the observable task outputs that define adequate role performance, and uses assessment conditions that neutralise signals unrelated to the role's actual craft. Three structural requirements must be satisfied for a given appointment system to be contribution-tracking: (1) Pre-commitment, criteria are specified before candidates are assessed, not backfitted to whichever candidate generates the strongest M-response; (2) Task-output specification, criteria are expressed as observable task outputs rather than trait adjectives, because trait adjectives readily fill with M-content (the Confabulation Rationality Lemma applies institutionally); (3) Non-craft signal neutralisation, assessment conditions blind or neutralise signals not directly relevant to the role's actual craft to the extent compatible with the role's requirements. The term is preferred over "earned authority" (which imports desert-theoretic moralising incompatible with the Push-Pull Obligation Principle's architectural neutrality) and over "competence-recognition" (which deploys trait-language vulnerable to M-content capture).
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct. Derived from the Three-Source Taxonomy (Axiom 1), the Leadership Compression Principle, and the Apex M-Capture.